We recently connected with Alexandra Mazzola and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alexandra, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Growing up as an undiagnosed young autistic girl, I had tried everything to try and fit in with my peers. In doing so, I participated in a various number of sports and hobbies that others around me enjoyed.
This led me to developing many special interests that, once I had started something such as soccer or cheerleading, everything seemed to become revolved around it.
My bedroom themes would change and I would fill the room with soccer-related things, cheerleading or gymnastics ribbons, etc.
However, I was not particularly very “good” at any of these physical sports or hobbies and over time,
I realized this because each one ended with me always feeling self-conscious, very sad, and hard on myself whenever I would not make it through try-outs or auditions.
Some of my peers would also judge me or make fun of me and it upset me even more, because I believed them when they told me to just give up and that no one liked me.
When I realized I actually did give up on each one time after time and the sports life just wasn’t for me, I resorted to other hobbies or interests that I could maybe be successful at and continue each year.
Singing in the school chorus since elementary school every year was something that I never did give up, and I learned to continue doing so no matter how much work I needed on my singing voice.
I also remember that I have always been an artist;
starting very early in life and going to the local town library to check out “how -to-draw” books, and would draw and color dogs amongst other animals and things.
However, after giving up all of those other hobbies, this is really where my creative side was re-discovered.
I do recall that even though the other hobbies at the time were taking up most of my days or free time on weekends or after school, art was always still a part of me despite it not being the most important in this timeframe.
In addition, what made me hold onto my love for art was being a member in the after-school art club in fifth grade.
Luckily for me, because I still held interest in creating art, along with the realization that whenever I would get bullied and use art as an outlet to express myself or get lost in what I was creating, I never gave up on that little artist in me.
Years would go by, where my dream constantly changed; either becoming a professional pet sitting business, a veterinarian, a nanny, or a professional artist is what I would tell people who had asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I would draw constantly, and in high school art classes, I often found an escape there.
After experimenting with charcoal, oil and soft pastels, along with acrylic paint, my love for this new artistic talent grew.
I began painting for fun, and some of my peers had said they wanted a custom piece and that they’d purchase it from me.
This kind of shocked me at the time because I thought I was never good enough at anything.
It was almost like a realization that I COULD finally be good at something,
and this newly developed hobby of mine became something I lost myself in once I started participating in local craft fairs. All my time outside of school was dedicated to painting canvases to sell at these fairs,
however, once I put them online on social media to share the word of the craft fair coming up, the majority of the pieces would sell.
I was beyond ecstatic, and felt something I have never felt before: confidence.
My parents helped me come up with a business name for my art, and I continued to experiment painting different things. Over the years, my artistic style constantly changed and continues to change.
What went from only painting realistic roses in the beginning, led to painting galaxies, other florals, wildlife and to this day, painting and drawing professionally a wide variety of different things; pet portraits in particular.
When I finally realized I wanted to pursue a creative and artistic path professionally, I researched ways on how to do so and how I could best bring all my professional and creative skills and qualities to the workplace.
I combined my passion and skills in art with my desire of helping and positively influencing others, especially the youth and other individuals with disabilities, and came to an easy decision to pursue Art Therapy.
I have personally received art therapy myself, and when researching schools that have a master’s program in art therapy, I kept in mind how beneficial it was in my own healing and overall growth and wellness.
I am now enrolled in a Master’s program in Art Therapy with an emphasis in counseling, and I cannot wait to see where it takes me.
Due to this new dream of mine, I can honestly say that I am extremely excited that I will never lose that creative artistic side of me.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a commission artist that specializes in painting and drawing different styles such as realism, abstract, and some impressionism and expressionism, by using a wide variety of high-quality acrylic paints and artist grade pastel pencils. I am mostly known for painting or drawing realistic portraits of peoples’ beloved pets and family members,
capturing their true essence and personality.
Each portrait is hand-drawn, and is truly a timeless memory that will last a lifetime.
However, what makes me unique and sets me apart from other artists is that I very rarely turn any challenging commissions down, and will almost always accept commissions of any painting style or idea, such as landscapes, seascapes, sunrises/sunsets, ultrasound paintings, galaxies, florals, wildlife, animals, family homes, and most recently, a 40″x60″ painting on canvas of an apartment view of New York City at night!
I strive to continuously learn and improve my skills and talent, so I can always ensure all customer satisfaction.
I am probably most proud of being able to say I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology online in only one year from Capella University back in 2019, and was accepted and now enrolled into a program to obtain my Master of Arts in Art Therapy with an Emphasis in Counseling, which is my true dream career goal in life.
Even though there was all this past struggle and challenges, there were always some positives within all that darkness.
In life, no matter who or where you are, there ALWAYS is light found within the darkness.
I want anyone who is interested in my art or my story to know that each challenge or difficulty I face, I will come out stronger and better, and I will never give up my love and passion for creating art;
especially if my artwork brings you joy or lightens up a room or living space.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My biggest wish, main goal, and mission in life and with my own creative journey is to continuously spread joy and hope to others that may need it the most in their darkest moments. My artwork has many different purposes;
I want it to bring pure happiness, sparking light and energy, along with bringing a feeling of calmness and peace when anyone looks at my created artwork in a room.
I am driven to create anything that brings individuals a form of hope and help them see their strength, if they are unable to find their own light in any particular moment.
Sometimes, individuals need a little guidance to help find the light within the darkness, along with finding themselves again, and my desire is for my artwork to give them a little “push” towards the right, positive direction in life, every time they take a glimpse at my artwork on their wall or living space.
Aside from that, another thing that is driving my creative journey, is knowing that I am making others happy when I paint or draw them something personal and meaningful, such as their beloved pet or family member, or a place that makes them jump right back into a memorable time in their life.
Seeing the joy in their eyes once they receive the commission or piece of art is truly a rewarding feeling to me, and I promise I will never give up on making that form of light and life go back into their eyes when they may have needed it the most.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
A story I can share with you all from my journey that illustrates my resilience is when I had suffered from heart failure at only 26 years old, back in December of 2020. Leading up to this, my mental health was already struggling due to not being the healthiest and never knowing if I would wake up having a good health day, or a bad one with flare-ups.
Regardless, I still had to receive in-home IV fluids daily for two hours, through a picc line for a while, because of how low my blood pressure would go each day and night. I would spend a lot of my time feeling so weak and sick, resulting in much time spent in hospitals due to having a combination of the disabilities Gastroparesis and Post Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome: a type of Dysautonomia.
However, my mental and physical state was truly tested when I was in that hospital room during my favorite holiday Christmas season due to the heart failure. I was not able to get out of the hospital bed on my own for days, and I felt so powerless with no light left in my eyes.
Because covid-19 was fairly new, I couldn’t have both my parents with me in the room at the same time or have my medical alert service dog stay with me the whole time like he normally would.
This led me to being mostly alone on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
However, I still had at least some form of hope, though my body was so fragile, as I still tried my best to bring any form of joy to others.
Some would call it a “Christmas miracle” when I was able to be moved down a floor to the PCU right before Christmas Eve because my heart started improving, but I believe it was due to all the healing prayers from the individuals out there that have supported me throughout my life, along with new people I have befriended over the years.
The night of Christmas Eve, I was able to still find some strength to go sing some Christmas songs “live”, virtually through the Facebook group called “Quarantine Karaoke” that I had joined back when the quarantine was initially issued across countries everywhere. In that moment, I did not feel as much alone anymore. More and more prayers, healing vibes, and positive messages got sent my way from random kind strangers all over the world, and it helped me gain more strength and hope that I was going to make it through.
When I was finally able to be discharged on my dad’s birthday, December 27th, it took some time for my body and self to heal fully, especially mental health.
My resilience continued to show since then, as I struggled to find myself over and over again.
Being an artist, this near-death experience and the continuous journey of feeling weak from the other health conditions, I went through a lot of “artist blocks” where I had no energy or motivation to paint or allow myself any form of self-care.
Even though I have been through more struggles and challenges health-wise in addition with my mental health after that point in my journey, I am always trying to find ways to be a light in others’ lives and allow them to always hold onto their own form of hope.
My medical conditions unfortunately will not get better and some new diagnoses have been discovered since this experience, but I am always jumping right back each and every time something tests my mental health and emotional state.
I have learned that any challenging or difficult experience or time in your life, only makes you more resilient and stronger to be able to overcome the next hard time that comes along.
We always will have to go through or experience difficult times that will test our mental health, but they only just prove your true strength and resilience that you really have had in you all along.
Each and every time, we jump back more fit to handle and work through them;
so, it is very important we do not ever give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.heartsomecreations.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartsome.creations
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mazzolaheartsomecreations
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrkOiQCAtaw-hGglryPsSQ
- Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/HeartsomeCreations