I started making artwork when I was a small girl. My mom was an artist and she taught me throughout my childhood. I discovered just how much I loved painting in art school during the late 1980's. I was further influenced by a pivotal show I saw at the World Tattoo Gallery in Chicago just after graduating. The exhibition featured
Wesley Kimler, Ed Paschke and
Tony Fitzpatrick. Their paintings were heroic and I was hooked.
My devotion to art was soon rivaled by my long-standing affair with alcohol. It was my constant companion. I used alcohol to medicate my anxiety, alleviate boredom and fuel creativity. My disease progressed until finally the medicine quit working and I bottomed out. My marriage ended, I was barely able to work and I discovered that I was addicted. Living without alcohol terrified me. Creating artworks sober seemed unthinkable. I entered treatment lonely and shaky. It felt like my life was unsalvageable at age 34.
I have been sober and healing mentally, physically and spiritually for over 7 years now. The drive to create has returned. I have learned how to pray and am astonished to see the spirit of love working in my life today. Pain is undeniably part of my makeup, but so is joy. My life had dwindled to a tiny spark when I was at my lowest, but it never went out. I now see this as a testament of God's care for me. All of these experiences are constantly sorting themselves out through my work. My paintings are truly an integration of all my parts.
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