​For me, painting is a practice of self-love. It's intentionally choosing to slow down. Lighting a fire in my studio. Saying no more to the fast-paced life I gave up when I left my corporate career. Saying yes to something that nourishes me and makes me feel alive.

 

I studied art at the University of Iowa and dreamt of becoming an art teacher. Then somehow I wound up in an office and high heels managing high rise office buildings. For 15 years I barely touched a paintbrush. 

 

In 2019 I left my job and most of my belongings behind to travel solo. Less than 3 months in, I met a Dutch guy in Vietnam, fell in love and moved to a little seaside village in the Netherlands with just a few bags and my cat.

 

This major life change made me really start questioning societal norms and my own values and beliefs. It also called me to show up more vulnerable than ever before, which for me meant openly sharing my journey having bipolar depression which I had shamefully hid for over 10 years.  It was in this process of peeling back layers that no longer served me and showing up more authentically that my creativity came flooding back.

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These days, my time is spent loving on my one year old daughter Essie and partner Ronald, cold swimming with a community of beautiful, warmed hearted women in the North Sea every Sunday, and sneaking into my art studio in the garden (that my partner and I built together - what a dream!) whenever I get the chance.