I have been so busy. And it’s amazing.
January 20, 2025
Now that I’m getting back out into the world after a 5 year hiatus, I’m getting a lot of questions. “Where have you been?”, “What are you up to?”, and “What are your plans?” are what everyone wants to know when you disappear for a while and then make a sudden return. I’m going to start my new blog by answering these questions, and I hope you guys are as excited as I am about the direction I’m going.
“Where have you been?”
Mostly here in Dayton, Ohio with my husband, Robert, and our two kids. I quit my job as a nursing assistant in 2019, and embarked upon a very deep spiritual journey. I wrestled with depression, anxiety, existentialism, mortality, and addiction. I read a lot of books about finding your purpose in life, and finding ways to live truthfully in this insincere world. I learned meditation, started engaging in prayer, began a journal of gratitude, and learned to feel comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. I went back to college like I had always wanted to do, and I studied whatever I wanted without listening to any advice from anyone I’d ever known. I started living for myself, and the life I’ve made today looks nothing like the one I was living back in 2019. As of today, I have 1,712 days sober from alcohol. I studied biology, climate science, painting, printmaking, Spanish, and calculus in college— it has been a real trip with many highs and lows. I pulled my kids out of public school in favor of homeschooling, and we took a trip around the country driving through 15 states and learning all about America’s wild geography and it’s history. We’ve been growing really close as a family; we really love travelling together. I studied abroad in Ecuador last year for a few weeks, and we’re in the process of getting the kids passports so we can broaden our horizons and keep exploring the world together.
“What are you up to?”
Right now, I’m working my tail off making the best work I ever have. I’m in my final semester at Wright State, and I’m preparing for my Senior Thesis Exhibition in the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries. That show will open on my birthday this year (yay!), March 25 2025. I’m trying to earn money to frame my work— that’s an expensive thing to do. I have a few pieces which will require me to build framing for, and I need to afford the materials to get started really soon. Time flies, and March will be here before I know it.
I’m also working on this website. As I prepare pieces to be sold, I’ll be posting them onto the SHOP page of this site. I’m working on growing my social media accounts; filming things as I work, learning video editing, and remembering to maintain a presence on my social media sites. Go ahead and click the links at the bottom right of this page to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. I’ll be posting things to those accounts really soon.
“What are your plans?”
I’m going to make art. It’s the only solid plan I have, and all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m going to make art all day every day. I love printmaking, I always have a painting on my easel… I weave grass baskets, I polish rocks that I find on lake and sea shores. I’m going to find the inspiration in every single day and do my best to capture it in the things I make. I want to travel the world and make stuff, and maybe someday teach other people to make stuff, too. I want to travel until I find somewhere that makes my heart sing, and then I want to stay there. I really feel like South America is in the near future, but we have some things to wrap up here in Ohio. I have been so focused lately on where I’m going that I forget to enjoy where I’m at— this year I’m trying to really take it all in and enjoy my life right now. One day at a time, one artwork at a time, one smile at a time shared with a loved one. I want to slow down and have reverence for the things I get to do every day. That’s my plan.
I’m really glad to be here on this website making this content. I’m so grateful every day to get up and get to do what I love most, and I’m happy you are here for the ride. Follow me on social media and get ready to be excited: new work is coming soon!
