who passed away February 18, 2011 at the young age of 44, from a long and courageous battle with Lymphoma Cancer. She was such a beautiful person and left behind her wonderful husband, Mike and beautiful 8 year old son, Danny. I can honestly say I was truly blessed to know her! I first met her when we were in our 20's, became immediate friends, had TONS of fun together and I was blessed to extend that relationship to her sister, Julie, whom lives in New York. Julie and I, through this horrible tragedy have been able to reconnect again and I am so thankful. Julie and I were very close for many years and I look forward to having her in my life again! We have come to realize the old saying IS true...Life IS too short and you just never know when someone you care about is gone. I do not want to ever regret not having the chance to let someone know how important they are to me. May God bless Mike and Danny and be with them during this most difficult time in their lives! My heart is broken but I know that she is with the Lord and at peace and no longer in pain.
After the emotional funeral, I was a mess and numb. I felt like I needed to stay busy so later that night, I decided to put some boxes in the attic. While I was on the ladder, the ladder gave way, shifted to the right and down I went. Trying to lessen my fall, I grabbed onto the door ledge with my right arm and came crashing down. Bruised from head to toe, I realized I had hurt my right arm pretty bad. No rotator cuff tear, but fluid, bursitis, tendonitis and in horrible pain for a month. I actually couldn't use my right arm at all until about 1 1/2 week ago! I had recieved some amazing prayer 2 Sundays ago at church and Monday morning, I was actually able to put on my clothes by myself for the first time since the accident. God is good! I continue to improve every day, and although not completely healed and still have some pain, God has provided me amazing strength and healing and I am grateful.
Somehow during all of this (and just prior) I have created many new works and many of these have sold. I am just loving every bit of it. It never gets old hearing that someone loves my work and better yet... purchases it...to be loved forever. It is an absolute honor.
I was also recently blessed with numerous stories written about me by Tom Hall from the Examiner.com. You can read them here. The press has been wonderful and again, I am more than honored!! I just finished a small art show at the Verona in Naples, Florida this past weekend and it was so exciting. The positive feedback was almost overwhelming for me. My sales were excellent (even though I felt like I wasn't completely prepared due to the recent shoulder injury and my printers' print heads deciding to die out this past week) and looks like there will be an outrageous amount of commission work I can look forward to. My work (I brought a wide representation) appealed to those of ALL ages and many returned to my tables repeatedly. It was a wonderful feeling and I can't wait for the next show!
This coming Friday, I have been honored once again as the Featured Artist for Green-n-Groovy during the amazing Art Walk held in our Fort Myers River District downtown. Although I will be presenting works of all mediums and styles, I will be demonstrating the ACEO using Micron pen and the Zentangle techniques. There was so much interest during the art show from this past weekend for the ACEO card. Viewers were intrigued and curious. They enjoyed picking them up, being able to purchase affordable works of art, and just wanted to know more. I love that!
Along with my paintings and illustrations, I have also been working in textiles, too. Upcycling the shoes are a blast and they are definitely a statement piece! Have had several custom orders for them and am excited about creating an entire line of painted and fabric upcycled shoes.
The handbags are actually from upcycled upholstery fabric swatch books. I absolutely love the fabrics. They are full of texture, color, patterns...and matched with embellishments, leathers, suedes, etc...the purses become an artistic statement piece as well. They spark a lot of conversation and I love that I get to create all of this.
There is much to do still and I have numerous other photos to prepare for posting, as well. I am not certain whether I will complete this before Friday, but I will do my best!! I love where all of this is taking me and look forward to seeing what's around the bend.
I love being an artist.
I am blessed!
I am blessed!
