Sometimes I’m an Artist, aren’t you?

We’re all artists.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

I’ve lost track of time, but roughly 3 years ago I moved in to a little studio by the sea in Cannon Beach, Oregon. I’d just returned from a year and a half of travel & needed somewhere to call “home” for a minute.

By divine timing, I met Margo. My soul mother in Oregon. She opened up her home and life to me. I spent the summer expressing my creativity in her ADU art studio, surfing, hiking, and blissfully indulging in my independence. As summer came to a close, so did a chapter. My brother, his wife, and my niece decided to move across the country (if you know me, you know that those 3 are my world). After they left, so did 3 of my best friends and boyfriend… I felt abandoned, alone on the coast amongst the trees and rain. Instead of wallowing in my self-pity, I stayed up late and woke up early in the morning and painted.

Each of these pieces are near & dear to my heart, they were each a part of me, how I felt at the time and were pivotal in my growth as a young woman. When I look at each of them, I see their imperfections and silliness but also my soulfulness.

My favorite is the girl with the rainbow hair because shortly after I finished painting it, my Montessori teacher & long-time childhood friend Libby reached out to me. She had been dealing with heart complications, left her husband in her 60’s, and was diagnosed with cancer. She had moved in to a new apartment & had been focused on her health & happiness. She needed new art to decorate her walls and she had decided to only fill her life with things and people that brought her joy. She told me watching me grow up to be the woman I am empowered her and wanted the cosmic painting of mine to hang in her bedroom. I was touched by this life long relationship. Libby recently passed away, but her spirit didn’t. Rest in peace.