And So It Begins…

I’ve always been an artist. Like many other women in their 20’s, 30’s and into their 40’s, I just tucked this part of me away in a drawer for two decades. I’d pull out my painting apron and brushes in those stolen moments between “real-life” responsibilities. With each passing year, these moments became further and farther between. Until one morning in my 39th year (this year), I woke up with an ache to create outside of these stolen moments.

Be careful what you ask for because you may just get it.

I’d been going 100 miles per hour working with a beautifully talented team to launch an asteroid mining mission. This crew of individuals always made me feel welcomed and part of their rag-tag geeky orbit. It broke my heart that we found ourselves dried up on funding options (thanks to major pull backs from investors in space research and development under the current shit-show administration). As Chief of Staff, I supported our founder in laying off this stunner of a team and then laid myself off. With my professional career grounded, my creative work called me back.

The very next week, I packed up all of my computers, monitors, selfie lights and virtual video paraphernalia into a cardboard box in my home office. Questioning why we needed so many items to work on a computer for 8-10 hours per day…I freed up my space to paint again. The wood easel that my deceased father bought me for our first joint art studio in highschool came out from under the bed. Honestly, I’m impressed that I’d packed that shit for so many years to so many homes. My expensive “uppy-downy” desk, a.k.a. standing desk, became my paint mixing and prep work table. Initially, I was worried about scratching the top of the desk…since it’s been coated with a kaleidoscope of paint colors. This standing desk is a good representation of my descent into the art creation.

Funny enough, this was my first warm up piece on that stand-up desk. It now is taped to the wall above my “work table.”

My first strokes on the canvas were unsure like those first several blocks on a bike again after years away. By week two, I was cruising again with wind in my hair. My confidence grew with each day spent in the studio. I loved it. I went to my local, Silverthorne Library, and checked out art books on Remington, Georgia O’Keefe, and other western artists. I had caught the muse again and this time I wasn’t letting it go. In our local bulletin, I saw the call for artists for this summer’s Breckenridge Fine Arts Festival. My heart felt drawn towards it. As a local to Summit County, I had gone to this festival nearly every year and bought some of my favorite pieces from this show. Hell, my day-to-day cutting board is a hand-crafted piece from an artisan at the market several years back. Why wait to bring it out only for fancy cheese party moments? This beauty is part of my daily life. But, I stray in my words. I decided to apply and was accepted to the juried show.

So, here I am preparing for my first in person show on July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in Breckenridge. I hope that the story and the unfolding of my own path back into the creative world inspires you to try something of your own. This is my first post on this journey but I will share bits and pieces along the way here. Thank you for joining in for this first moment of the adventure. It means the world to me.

Now back to painting…