HOW DID I GET HERE?
While attending various workshops, I kept getting the message that I needed to express myself creatively. After years of dealing with shoulder and back pain issues that resulted in me focusing on academic pursuits, I worked with a wonderful life coach who got me motivated to venture into creativity again. I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and did the program from the book along with a 21-Day Painting Meditation Challenge. This really helped remove the creative blocks I was experiencing. The opportunities to work with art started to pop up out of nowhere. I taught some classes and private parties at a local Bottles & Brushes business, co-presented on creativity for wellness with colleagues at the college where I work, and eventually felt drawn to do more. While I have a Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University at Albany, I needed to reframe a lot of what I learned back then because I wasn't enjoying art or expressing myself authentically. I studied and became a certified Creatively Fit Coach in 2015. I have also taken multiple painting and mixed media courses, learning new techniques and expanding my tools for how I express myself and create art. In addition to art, I studied with Tisha Morris to get certified as a feng shui consultant through the Earth Home School of Feng Shui and became certified in April 2015. More recently, I was drawn digital aura portraits and collage. I achieved my certification as an Aura Portrait Practitioner in 2020. |