This series of oil paintings is called “My Lisas,” and they are about coming-of age friendships. They are also about beauty, nostalgia, regret, guilt, love, loss and loneliness.

The young women I depict exist in that beautiful, vulnerable and strange moment between youth and adulthood. I leverage the powerful memories evoked by this time in my life.

The figures are inspired by photos I take at music festivals. I take crowd shots, then sketch one or two figures, removing the background and the crowd, leaving behind the figure and its shadow in a neutral empty space.

Within the paintings are short personal essays I have written about close friends who are no longer in my life. I write honestly about people who enhanced or complicated my life, challenged or completed me for a time. I express my emotions in an unashamed way, exploring how these special friendships truly felt and why they end. Perhaps some intense friendships are simply not meant to last.

I paint my figures in high-contrast monochromatic gray tones, and I paint the words in bright glossy colors, so they appear as an overlay, separate and above the image. With this gentle collision of words and image, I strive to create something that connects us more deeply to ourselves and to one another.

I hope these paintings evoke a sense of recognition in viewers, leading them to reflect on the impact of friends they’ve had who are no longer in their lives.