From Family to Animals to Fantasy to Photography

I've never had just one source of inspiration for my artwork.

The things I create have always come from whatever I'm feeling connected to at that point in my life.

Sometimes that's an animal.

Sometimes it's a flower or a mandala.

Sometimes it's something that doesn't exist anywhere outside of my imagination.

And more recently, it's often something I've seen through my camera.

That's one of the things I love most about creating.

There isn't one process I have to follow.

Every style of artwork I create seems to find its own way into the world.

It Started With My Love of Animals, Nature and Detail

Animals were one of my earliest and strongest inspirations.

I've always felt a deep connection with them. There's something about animals that I've been drawn to for as long as I can remember—and I've often felt like they are drawn to me too.

That connection became the foundation of much of my original artwork.

But those pieces were never just simple animal graphics.

I spent hours upon hours building incredibly detailed designs around them, combining animals with flowers, mandalas, natural elements and ornate patterns.

I love intricate artwork—the kind of piece you can look at more than once and continue noticing little details you didn't see the first time.

Across those original designs, I eventually invested more than a thousand hours creating.

And I loved the process.

There was something almost meditative about taking an animal I felt connected to and building an entire piece around it.

A flower could flow into a mandala.

A mandala could become part of the animal.

Lines, patterns and natural elements could all grow together until they felt like one complete piece.

Some of those original designs are still part of Stems from Love today.

I kept the ones I truly loved because even though my sources of inspiration have continued to grow, those ornate animal, floral and mandala pieces are still very much a part of who I am as an artist.

My Art Didn't Become Less Detailed—My Inspiration Expanded

Over time, I started exploring other directions, but I never stopped loving ornate artwork.

Sometimes I want to create something incredibly intricate.

Other times, a photograph or idea calls for something much simpler.

That's something I've learned about myself creatively:

I don't want every piece to follow the same rules.

The design process is uniquely different depending on what I'm creating.

An ornate animal and mandala piece might involve hours of building tiny elements together.

A simple nature graphic might be about figuring out exactly how much I can remove while still preserving what made the original photograph beautiful.

And a fantasy piece can take me somewhere else entirely.

That's where my love of fantasy—and especially dragons—started finding its way more deeply into my artwork.

Then My Imagination Started Wandering

I've always loved fantasy.

And dragons are incredibly special to me.

There's something about them that has always captured my imagination—the strength, mystery, beauty and complete freedom of creating a creature that doesn't have to follow the rules of the real world.

Fantasy gave me permission to take things I already loved and imagine what else they could become.

Animals could become more mystical.

Nature could become more magical.

Flowers and mandalas could become part of creatures or landscapes that existed only in my imagination.

I didn't have to choose between loving the real world and loving fantasy.

I could create in both.

And even though Stems from Love has evolved toward a more natural direction, that imaginative side of me hasn't disappeared.

It's still part of who I am and how I create.

Sometimes the Inspiration Comes From Someone I Love

Not every design begins with an idea I have for myself.

Some of my artwork has actually started with tattoos.

My son has asked me to create tattoo designs for him, and other people have asked me to design tattoos for them as well.

I love those projects because the process is completely different.

I'm not just asking myself what I want to create.

I'm listening to someone else's idea, understanding what matters to them, and then figuring out how to translate that into something visual while still bringing my own style into it.

A design meant for someone's skin also makes me think differently about shape, linework, flow and how all of the elements connect.

Sometimes an idea that begins in one form teaches me something that influences completely different artwork later.

That's another reason I don't think creativity follows a straight line.

And Then Photography Changed Things Again

More recently, photography has become another major source of inspiration for me.

I've always loved the outdoors, but the more time I've spent photographing it, the more I've started seeing possibilities everywhere.

Photography gives me the opportunity to share the beauty of the real world as I experience it.

Sometimes that's enough.

I want the photograph to remain exactly what it is because the moment itself is what I wanted to capture.

But other times, I'll look at one of my photographs later and begin seeing something completely different.

A silhouette of a pine tree.

The outline of a mountain.

The colors of the sky.

The shape of the clouds.

The details of a flower.

Something that could become artwork.

And unlike some of my fantasy pieces that can begin almost entirely in my imagination, these designs begin with something I actually experienced.

I was there.

I saw it.

I captured it.

And now I get to decide what else that moment might become.

Photography hasn't replaced the other things that inspire me.

It's simply become a new form of inspiration.

Every Design Has Its Own Process

That's probably the best way I can explain how I create.

There isn't a formula.

An ornate animal graphic doesn't develop the same way as a tattoo design.

A tattoo doesn't develop the same way as a fantasy dragon.

A dragon doesn't develop the same way as a graphic inspired by one of my photographs.

Some pieces start with detailed drawing.

Some start with a photograph.

Some begin with a rough idea that changes completely by the time I'm finished.

Some need more detail.

Others become better when I take detail away.

And sometimes I have to walk away from something and come back to it before I understand what it needs.

Each style has its own process because each piece has its own story.

That's part of what keeps creating interesting to me.

I don't know exactly where I'm going to end up every time I begin.

From the Real World to Something You Can Wear

Photography has created a new connection between the different parts of Stems from Love.

I can go outside and photograph something beautiful.

That photograph can remain exactly what it is and become a print.

Or it can become the beginning of something new.

A photograph of a sunrise can inspire a graphic.

A mountain can become linework.

A tree can become part of a larger design.

A flower can inspire something completely different from the photograph where it started.

And eventually, that artwork can find its way onto one of my 100% organic cotton hoodies or sweatshirts.

I love that.

The photograph and the apparel don't have to compete with each other.

They're different expressions of the same moment.

I Don't Want to Choose Just One Kind of Artist

I've wondered before whether I needed to narrow everything down.

Should I only create nature artwork?

Should I only do photography?

Should I leave the older animal graphics behind?

Should fantasy still have a place?

But that doesn't really represent how I create.

I love the real world, and I love imagining worlds that don't exist.

I can love photographing an actual mountain exactly as I see it.

And I can also love creating a dragon that could never have been standing on top of it.

I can create an incredibly ornate animal surrounded by flowers and mandalas.

And the next day I might want to create something beautifully simple from a photograph I took outside.

Those things don't feel contradictory to me.

They're different expressions of the things that inspire me.

What matters to me now is being thoughtful about which pieces become part of Stems from Love.

I don't need to put everything I create onto clothing.

I want to choose the work that I genuinely love and that feels connected to what this brand represents.

Inspiration Is Everywhere

I don't know what will inspire the next piece.

That's part of the fun.

Maybe it will be an animal.

Maybe my son will ask me to draw something completely unexpected.

Maybe I'll start playing with flowers and mandalas.

Maybe another dragon will find its way onto the page.

Or maybe I'll be outside tomorrow morning, see the light hitting a mountain in a way I've never seen before, pull out my camera, and capture the beginning of something I haven't even imagined yet.

That's what I love about creating.

The inspiration can come from anywhere.

The process can change.

The style can change.

I can change.

But underneath all of it is the same reason I've always created:

I see something—or imagine something—that makes me feel something.

And I want to bring it to life.

— Stems from Love