While the narrative around my series of fine art has always been full of emotion and personal meaning, it wasn’t until I immersed myself in different, larger, and local projects, that I found a deeper sense of fulfillment and joy. During the pandemic I homeschooled my daughter and adjusted to creating alongside her in what we termed “arting” side by side. When she started going back to school in person, it was a doozy as it was for most families. Her needs were my priority and though deadlines and art was always there, I could feel it getting side swiped by life. I found balance and deeper meaning when I began spending more time at her school, painting murals through my local arts bureau, and including her in as many projects that I could. If I had to pick one major project, it would be the Kindness Mural painted in my hometown of Imperial Beach. It was the most challenging in size but having the help of the arts bureau made it not only easier but a more enjoyable process. I created a design incorporating our little beach cities pollinators and the part we play towards our environment, utilizing an image of my daughters hands. Both my daughter and husband painted part of my favorite flower in the mural on Mother’s Day in 2021. No matter how many times we pass by it, we still point it out.

I’m a fine artist that draws figurative portraits on wood panels (some custom built), paints murals, and an active member in my Imperial Beach community. I’ve always created in some way since I was a kid, surrounded by art and music, encouraged by my (late) artist father. It wasn’t until his passing (my teenage years) I dove into art, drawing and journaling through my grief. Art (in every way- drawing, building, dancing, journaling, listening to music) has never failed me, It continues to be a therapeutic outlet that ultimately turns into series of figurative self-portraits. These snapshots of heightened moments capture deeply personal expressions and gestures. I believe my artwork’s ability to evoke empathy and understanding has helped elevate and build my art career since making the full-time move here from NJ, about 12 years ago. Thanks to this insanely supportive and colorful community as a whole, I’ve been able to continue doing what I love, collaborating and working on projects of all kinds, sizes and mediums.

After doing this for over 15 years, I still get the looks and questions when I tell non-creatives I’m a full-time artist. I think non-creatives struggle to understand what being an artist truly entails. The amount of sacrifice, commitment, time management, work ethic… is definitely overlooked. Navigating the artist journey means being a chameleon, mix in parenthood and you got yourself a whole other level of challenges on top of an already uncharted career course. While adapting to this new identity as parent, we are having to balance that with time (and energy) to create while maintaining the entrepreneur end of things. What creatives really need is support. Though I grew up mostly surrounded by artists of some sort, there were many that were not always supportive of my choice to pursue art full-time. Luckily some of these have different mindsets on the subject matter now but mostly because they were open and willing to listen and really take the time to look at my art, and I think that’s really what it comes down to. If you care about this creative, this artist, this human, you’ll want to take the time to learn more about them and their art. I don’t care who you are, we’ve all been touched by art…if you watch tv, listen to music, look at nature, it’s all art, When non-creatives understand that Art is everywhere they will see just how essential art is to our humanity and may find gratitude towards creatives/the arts.