I can remember drawing on the sidewalk with rocks at recess, dreaming of a day I'd be doing art as my full time job; sometimes I cannot believe that dream came true! Before I became a professional artist in Portland, I grew up on Cape Cod, MA where my love for exploring nature and wildlife began. My thirst for adventure has taken me all throughout the United States, and in the last few years, South East Asia (Thailand and the Philippines). Equal to my love for creating visual art is the joy I take in recording and playing original music with various instruments. Other interests include: star wars, snowboarding, skateboarding, sharks, physical exercise, psychology, dreams and philosophy. Among all these treasures in my life, Chynna is the most special and inspiring; she is the light of my universe.

Growing up, I felt as though I was pretty good at being aware of other people’s feelings. This might be because I was a little bit of a sensitive kid myself or because my parents encouraged me to take care of and consider others. This all led up to when I attended elementary school and had many influential teachers and a ground breaking school counselor, Miss Ferguson. Watching her do so much for her community and having so much love for her students gave me a clear goal of what I was meant to do in life. I felt like my purpose was to help others. I will admit there was a brief moment where I wanted to be a race car driver or a successful artist but my heart kept coming back to community service. I am closer to my goal than ever where I will be attending school for my masters in school counseling. I am so fortunate to work for the Lake Oswego school district. I am passionate about people but more specifically students and kiddos. I have a large family of over 20 cousins to thank for that. Family is everything to me and I am so happy to have you all as my family and extend our tree. Nature is also a love of mine, probably nurtured through the beautiful NW, where I grew up all my life. My other passions involve education, research, art. All of which I share with Benjamin which makes him the perfect best friend. He is beyond anything I can dream of! He is my greatest passion.

Chynna's love for children led her to one of her first jobs, working at an art lesson studio for kids, while she attended school. When Benjamin moved out to Portland, his passion and immense skill for art led him to work at that same studio. Chynna at the time only worked weekends and her boss sent her a picture of the new team of male Art teachers; seeing Benjamin she instantly had a crush. They met in person, Benjamin thinking Chynna was also a new hire (but really his manager), and became very close over their love of dreams and art. And well, you all know where they are now...

After two years of dating, Benjamin had expressed how he would love to take another big trip. Benjamin had recently visited Thailand and had a great experience. Chynna had never been out of the country before but shared how she dreamt of traveling. Chynna is partially Filipino and has grown up embracing some Filipino culture. After some research, we found that it was actually quite cost effective to travel to the Philippines and made plans for a 20 day trip. Close to Valentine's day, we splurged on some very nice accommodations and got to stay on a private island. After taking a sunset cruise and eating a beautiful dinner, we were called up to dance. It was confusing at first for the both of us because Benjamin originally planned for us to dance to a special song, and for Chynna we danced to an Ed Sheeran song, who she knew Benjamin was not a big fan of. It was fun nevertheless! The song ended, Chynna turned to the band to thank them and applauded. She turned to Benjamin who was on his knee with a gorgeous ring in his hands. Suddenly a very special song started to play, a song Benjamin wrote for Chynna in the beginning of their relationship. Chynna teared up with happiness and said YES! They danced again together to their song. They walked together to the dock and laid down to stare at night sky filled with more stars they had ever seen combined.