The Journey to Find me
The origin of my love for painting goes all the way back to my childhood. As a young child, some of my fondest memories are of visiting my dear Polish Grandfather, he was a kind and gentle man who also happened to be a painter. Every Saturday, he would invite me to create in his basement studio. There he would let me explore with his paints and teach me the building blocks of this art from. The walls were lined with his paintings, knickknacks, and mementos from his homeland. I can still remember the smell of his studio as I descended the stairs. It smelled of paint thinner and wood shavings. I adore that smell! You see not only was he a painter but he was a toy maker, it was akin to having one of Santa’s helpers as a grandfather!
My memories of that time spent will stay with me forever, for it was there that the seeds of passion for art were planted. As I grew my curiosity for art expanded and I would draw and create any chance I got. I studied art at school and I would carve out time to experiment with different mediums and grow in my abilities. As is the story of many people, life progressed and I allowed my passion to diminish and forgot my dream. My life was good and rich, I got married, had kids, and got a “real job” working as an administrative assistant for my children’s school. While I thoroughly enjoyed building relationships and pouring into the next generation, I knew that my soul was not fulfilled. Later that year a friend of mine introduced me to The Milan Art Institute. She said that I would be perfect for their Mastery Program, this program equips artists to become professional artists. I immediately started weeping uncontrollably, it was as if a deep place in my heart that I had been hiding away had been released and I knew I needed to attend. That decision set me on the path that led me to who I am today, and I am forever grateful.
I graduated in December of 2019 with a zeal and passion in my heart like never before, I felt I could change the world! Even to the extent that I started the process of buying the art school I had recently graduated from. I believed I could take it over and that God was going to move in such a mighty way. Unfortunately things did not line up and my life, as well as many others, took a different direction in 2020. All was not lost though, and this turned out to be a blessing and a gift as it gave me the space to grow into the artist I was meant to be. In this season of growth I discovered the soul enriching work of Emily Jeffords. She opened my eyes to painting in a more holistic and connected way, by creating paint from the very rocks that surround us. This process fascinated me and once again brought me back to my childhood of playing outside and smashing rocks together to see what they would do. It also bound together my love for the outdoors and painting. My process now has evolved into taking regular hikes, where I create an in plein air painting live on social media!
Once the painting is completed I forage and collect an eco-friendly amount of rocks and take them to my studio to be crafted into oil paint. Once this paint is crafted, I then create a large scale piece of the mountain the rocks were collected from. I love that this process takes people full circle from mountain to mountain. All of my large scale pieces start with an underpainting of drips, rich movement and textures that I create by dancing and painting allowing the piece to tell me what it wants to be. I believe this portion of the process infuses peace and destiny into each painting and my hope is that it is felt by the collector. My favorite subject to date is the Superstition Mountains. There is something so majestic about them, and they draw me back with awe and wonder time and time again. I now create collections of paintings based on the mountains that surround our beautiful Phoenix valley. I adore this breathtaking state and consider it an honor to get the opportunity to capture it’s majesty in this form.
