I have lived with chronic pain for ten years. As part of my pain management, I began doing mindful-based doodling (some people call this “zentangle”). I noticed it was a great way to distract myself from higher pain days, hours, moments.  While I have always thought of myself as crafty and even though I am an art teacher and have facilitated art workshops for over fifteen years, I had never considered myself to be an artist.

Last summer I made the conscious decision to change my mind-set. I declared myself to be an artist. Since then, I have learned that I must make some kind of art every day or my day feels incomplete. Some days (like today) my pain gets so high that it is difficult to be creative but I push through as best as I can.

prints available

What do I do with all this art though? I have small paintings and some larger paintings and sketches and doodles and…the list goes on. People tell me they like my art. That feels fantastic but it doesn’t pay much.

This summer I have decided that as well as being a teacher and an artist that I am also a business woman. I need to bring tangible value to my work and as such, find great homes for my artwork. This is so much easier said than done.

I am in the process of setting up a page on my blog to showcase more of my pieces, in the hopes that people will not only continue to tell me they like my work but will buy it too!