I’ve spent the last decade as a creative, but over the past two years since I became a professional artist, I’ve noticed a change. People often tell me they hesitate to pursue an art career because then it won’t be their hobby anymore, it will just be their job.

And they’re right.
Art isn’t my hobby anymore. But it’s not my job either. It has become so much bigger than that to me.

I love what I do so much. It fills me up with purpose and joy. Art is the way I express my emotional landscape. It is the medium I use to bring joy and confidence to my students. It’s what makes me dream. It’s not a hobby anymore, it’s my passion.

When I’m overwhelmed or emotional (and I’m quite an emotional person) it’s the language in which I articulate it all. My art blends abstract realism and feminine portraiture to express whatever’s inside. My work is deeply emotional because that’s what drives me to create.

The image of the heart appears over and over again throughout my work because that’s where my art comes from and that’s where emotions are held. Emotions are truly beautiful and (even though it might feel like it) are here not to destroy us, but to simply be held in our hearts with compassion.

My favorite piece from my new collection, HeartScapes, is called Presence. It depicts a woman hugging a heart. There is so much blue in the painting; the blue of deep sadness. I had originally envisioned her squeezing the heart with scrunched eyebrows and balled fists— and then I painted it. She was holding the heart with so much peace and acceptance. The sadness is not there to be chased away, nor to be strangled out of the heart. It’s just there. Just held.

The painting is called Presence because as long as I can be compassionately present with them, emotions aren’t bad at all. They’re a part of the human experience and the human heart and that makes them beautiful.

I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to share my art with you.