Taking the Plunge: Inside Painting with OI

When I was in grade school and high school, I had an art teacher who emphasized the importance of learning the fundamentals of art while also developing your own style and artistic process.  Robin didn’t necessarily spark a lot of creative desire in me, but she taught me many invaluable lessons that have allowed me to become a successful artist. She[...]

Don’t Set New Year’s Resolutions, Set Stepping Stones … I’ll Show You How

Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution on January 1st only to break it less than 2 weeks later?   We’ve all been there. And then what? Do you go back to it and start over, or do you just say, “Oh well, no resolution this year,” and continue on with your life?   I’m definitely the all-or-nothing type of person. Once I break my resolution[...]

I live for my next concert.

I love live music more than almost anything else in the world. Although it’s a lot about the music, it’s not JUST about the music for me. It’s the interaction you have with the performer no matter where your seats are. It’s being brought together with fourteen thousand of your closest friends by a few lyrics and a melody. It’s being immersed in[...]

It all started with a rescue greyhound named Willie.

Growing up with two parents who were veterinarians, I shared my home with a variety of animals. From the day I was born, I was taught to treat our pets, whether it was our Maltese named Teddy, our cockatiel named Charlie, or our tarantula named Celeste, with compassion and respect. I quickly realized that, like people, every animal (wild or domesticated)[...]

“Be courageous and be brave, and in my heart you’ll always stay forever young.” -Sir Rod Stewart

A couple years ago by a random stroke of luck, I met and later worked for Rod Stewart. He picked me out of the crowd of 80,000 at New Orleans Jazz Fest and invited my friend and me backstage. We met him, his band, and his family over a glass of wine (we turned down tequila shots). I was completely freaking out, but my friend had enough forethought to han[...]

What are you lookin’ at?

  It’s no secret that I get stared at A LOT in public, not because of my stunning beauty, but because of my short stature and 400 lb wheelchair. Most of the time it’s by kids, which doesn’t really bother me because they obviously haven’t been taught how to be around someone who is physically different. Adults…. that’s when I get frust[...]

Art is something I can ACTUALLY do.

  In a way, art kind of won by default in my life. It was pretty clear that I was not going to be able to live out my life-long dream of becoming a killer whale trainer (I really loved Free Willy as a kid), so I went to plan B - art. I took a liking for art of any kind at just five years old when my mother bought me my first watercolor set. Altho[...]

Getting a New Wheelchair: The Red Tape

For those of you that have been following my blog for a while, you might remember one I posted a couple years ago about how involved it is for me to get a new wheelchair. My chair has a lot of custom pieces to it, and it is very, very expensive (more than most cars, in fact). There are only a few companies to choose from when buying an electric wheelchair, a[...]

Breed All About It!

For those of you who follow me on social media, you might have noticed that I have not been painting nearly as much as I normally do in the last couple of months. I’ve been working on a new painting project and chose to keep it under wraps until a certain amount of it was completed. Well, today is the day! May I present…  Drum roll please…  BREED[...]