My art practice is rooted in the exploration and interpretation of my Cuban background. I left Cuba at 14-years old and was old enough to take with me the colors, the sounds and the beauty of my homeland and my people.

Subconsciously or not, the subjects I paint and my color choices are deeply influenced by my longing for Cuba and my idealized memories of “home.” As someone said to my husband once – “They took this girl out of Cuba, but they have never taken Cuba out of this girl.”

Being a self-taught and new artist, I don’t worry if a flower I paint doesn’t exist in nature, or if a face is not a perfect representation of real faces. I paint what exists in my mind and the meaning it carries for me. My faces, for the most part, capture the Afro-Cuban beauty of Caribbean and Cuban women. When I branch out, I paint redheads, because I have a copper-haired daughter and painting red hair makes me think of her and brings me joy.

Most of what I paint is invented and shaped by whom I am at my core - a Cuban woman, who is very American in many ways, but who will never forget where she came from and will always love that island 90 miles and 45-minutes by air from Key West.

Because art for good is my mission, I donate a percentage of net profits to nonprofit organizations serving women and girls.