A bit of my background. . .
I started off as an elementary school teacher. I was 22 in a Title I school (aka 80% or more living in poverty) teaching 2nd grade. I won’t go into it, but in summary, I taught 3 grades in 5 years in 3 different schools. It was a lot. At that point, I was married to a military man and we were getting stationed in different places, my teacher’s license was expiring, I’d been through a lot, I decided to take a break…permanently. I do want to add though that I wouldn’t take that life experience back for anything and that it still affects my life perspective to this day.
The last station was in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston is the town I grew up taking beach vacations as a child, going to university, and starting my teaching career. For this, I was very VERY grateful as life had been quite a whirlwind for the past 6 or 7 years. A bit of stability was welcomed and I took random jobs here and there to make ends meet. Then, I became a mother. I realize that getting to be a stay-at-home mom is a privilege, and that’s what I did. At that point, my husband was providing enough for the family, so I just decided to be present for a very precious small season of life and stayed home with our two boys who are now 4 and 6. I’m still a mother, and we’re still in Charleston. My husband is (thankfully) no longer in the military although hats off to all women who are military wives. Great respect to you and your sacrifices.
Another fun fact about me is I’m quite international. I speak fluent French and have lived a stint in France and Eastern Africa. All of these experiences come through in my artwork. I’ve had people ask me before how long it has taken me to paint such and such…. Well, I’ll tell you. Since my life experiences have profoundly affected my view of life (especially the experiences abroad), it’s all those experiences PLUS the number of hours it took to complete the painting. These experiences also affect the way I live life—my “thankfulness” perspective, the way I raise my kids, my spirituality, so many things. An outside perspective is always great for reflection.
I appreciate you joining my journey as an emerging artist who is always learning and processing the world through a paintbrush. If you’d like regular updates about what’s going on in my studio, feel free to sign up for my Inner Circle (aka email list). Subscribers always get first dibs at any new collection release, a discount code for your first print purchase, and behind the scenes privileges. To stay up-to-date, you can subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/hRVfAX . I promise to not share your email and not bombard your inbox. :).