It all started with a vision...

   I worked with patients as a cardiac sonographer until I started becoming a patient myself.  I was sick and no one could tell me the cause.  

It was 2014.  I was in my apartment, in lots of pain, trying to recover from my third hip surgery in 3 years. I was experiencing strange autoimmune symptoms that could not be diagnosed or explained.  Worse yet, no one could tell me how to stop the pain or if it would ever subside.  This happened with my second surgery, but this time, I had made lots of life changes and was sure these unexplained symptoms would not return.  I couldn’t believe I was in this place again.  I was devastated. It had been 4 months since my surgery.  I should be getting back to life as normal.  Instead, my parents were bringing me TV dinners because I couldn't stand long enough to cook for myself.  Getting up, showering, and making the bed without having to rest was a great accomplishment. Was this what the rest of my life looked like? Eek!!!  I was 36 and terrified, not about dying, but about living, like this, for a long time.  

I needed some inspiration, so I picked up the phone and called my friend Nichelle.  She could help.  40, multiple sclerosis, how did she do it?

In her slurred words, she told me to focus on what I could do instead of what I couldn’t.  I got off the phone, got my art supplies together, and made a painting.  All in my own time. That’s how I started painting.  I began posting the progression of my paintings on Facebook. To my surprise, people wanted to buy them.  Hello, happy accident. 

There was a vacant dirt lot next to my apartment at the time.  When I could, I would spread flower seeds in that lot, hoping and praying for a life that seemed impossible at the time. A life where I had a supportive husband, a nice home, and could dance and walk around the block again.  And, a way to support myself financially.

During this time I was extremely lonely.  I decided to host a collaborative art show featuring the medium of plaster castings. The idea was that each participating artist cast a part of their body, then paint the casting in their own unique style.  This caught the attention of the amazing Lisa Wigoda, a well-known photographer and photojournalist in my area.  She began photographing the process, and the project took on a life of itself.

Lisa photo-documented the process of me and a group of women ages 55-60 getting full body castings.  Some of the women who participated in the casting process experienced healing transformations. This show ended up being professionally hung in Lisa'd gallery space.  The opening was professionally catered and featured a DJ and 2 professional dancers.  One dancer was a former dance studio owner, and the other was a well-known performance artist who had previously performed for the Queen of the Netherlands.  Um, hello MF Happy Accident/MIRACLE  VISION COME TO LIFE!!  How did this all happen, don't know, people got inspired to help, I had the vision, and it just did.  I had no money and had never hosted an art show or anything like it before.  

People still talk about that art show.  Honestly, in my condition, I can't explain how I pulled it all off.  All I know was, that I was REALLLLL tired of sitting on my ass recovering. I didn't plan on becoming an artist or having this become a healing process for others. I was lonely, and I wanted to feel alive again.  After that show, a new world opened up for me.

I eventually went back to work as a healthcare professional, but I kept painting and using art to build community and hold my vision for the I'mPossible. Through all this, I began to heal and manifest my dreams.  I married an amazing man.  In February 2020, I formally launched my business as an artist and coach, built a dream home, and got my mobility back.  In 2022 my autoimmune disorder resolved!!!  

I think back to that time in 2014 when I called my friend Nichelle, and it makes me smile. Nichelle passed away a few years after that phone call.  I am forever grateful for that moment when she filled my heart with hope and my body with the inspiration to get up and start making the impossible, possible. All by focusing on what I could do, at that moment, with what I had. My dreams are manifesting in ways beyond what I imagined. Cultivating my creativity has helped me face terrifying uncertainties, adopt new ways of problem-solving, and learn what is truly needed to move forward in a lasting way.

The life I have now was an impossible dream that I couldn't let go of. Making this dream a reality hasn't been quick or easy, but it has been so darn special.   

If you are reading this and can relate to anything I have written if you have health struggles, or life has dumped a box of stinking steaming turds on your front door, or, you just feel flat for some reason and don't know why... I hope this leaves you with a little nugget of hope.

​I know if I can do it, then you can too. 

I have no formal art training, just a burning desire to heal my body and do something that is of value to others and helps me feel more connected to myself and the world. I have been painting for almost a decade now, and I still look at my paintings and think, "Huh, I didn't know I had it in me."