A Older Style

20”x30” acrylic on canvas

Lets take a walk through the past, shall we? How did I get started painting again. It all starts with being a bit crazy. I can call myself that, you can't.

I have been surviving with depression and anxiety for most of my adult life. To add to that, after working for two years in a remote indigenous community I added secondary trauma to the list of mental illness that I now have to work my way through and live with everyday. Thankfully I have great health professionals, family and friends in my corner. The number one activity that helps the most with all this “crazy” is painting.

In 2014 I returned to Prince Rupert after years away. Those years away were a dark time for me. I was dealing with the mental health issues, but just. I wasn’t thriving, I was just existing. When I got back to Prince Rupert I felt I could breathe again, I could see a light. I just had to find a way to grab that light and fill myself with it.

I went to the dollar store and bought a couple of inexpensive canvases and some acrylic paint. I won’t show you those early ones. They are rather embarrassing, but I was working on a style, figuring out colour, ignoring perspective. All that aside, I was starting to live again.

I was also starting to see that I wasn’t just a teacher, a hairdresser, a crazy person; I was an artist too. This painting was the start of that.