Although the subjects of my work are always black, I do not limit myself to a certain color palette. I've always been drawn to using color to bring a certain level of energy to my work and vibrancy to my portrayal of black culture. So when I decided to attempt a piece made of thumbtacks I had to understand what my options were. That's when the search began for all the colors that I would need…in bulk. I quickly realized that "orange" was the holy grail of thumbtacks. After a scavenger hunt in Staples, Office Deport, and Googling for hours I stumbled upon the treasure trove of thumbtacks, JAM PAPER. Shout out to my thumbtack hookup, Mike Jacobs, for the wide array of colors that made this all possible.

For the Jimi Hendrix piece I used purple, pink and blues, which are colors that aren't typically combined in our current color landscape to create an electric shock. This piece is meant to feel all together vibrant, trippy and a bit psychedelic.

By the time I got to the Obama piece I felt it was appropriate to stick with the most realistic palette because color is so important to what makes this icon special and I believe that no color is a boring color. Yet I made sure to include colors like gold, silver and bronze that have the shimmer and brilliance that marks the caliber of a United States president.

In the It’s All About the Benjamins piece the gloss of the tacks and the bill are meant to clash with the grit of the history of America.