As a child I would play with my hoarded boxes of crayons, arranging them neatly by color, size, and sharpness before coloring anything. This still informs my studio practice. My grandmother brought home some crayons after a trip to visit family in Mexico, and they were forever my favored material — bringing powers to me from this mythical, magical place. I referred to them as ‘my Mexican crayons.’

Highlighted in this series is my affection for deep ultramarine blues as well as my interest in native flora and fauna of South Texas and our Tejano and Karankawa ancestors. I am especially enamored by the ingeniously engineered maize and the endangered sand dollar cactus (overpoached as it is commonly mistaken for another sacred plant). Using inspirational ingredients like agave and corn from our neighborhood Barbacoa’s menu, I blended these plants and the memories of painting with my artist grandmother during my childhood.