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 showed me that lying on my side while I paint was actually not an obstacle. It’s MY perspective. She was right there beside me as I developed my unique art techni[...]
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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’m done. So much can change in a year, and maybe halfway through, a resolution is not relevant to your life anymore. Maybe you vowed to move up in your co[...]
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 hand Rod one of my business cards and explain that I was a graphic designer. I will never forget the moment he turned to me and said, “I need cover art for my new album. W[...]
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 frustrated. I love to stare right back at them and make them just as uncomfortable as they make me... and trust me, I’ve gotten some pretty funny reactions! My favorite is w[...]
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. Although it started off as a hobby, it quickly turned into a way for me to earn a living. When I was a kid, art was something I could ACTUALLY do. While my friends were[...]
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 ALL ABOUT IT! Breed All About It, a series of approximately 60 small paintings, will capture the essence of dog breeds through portraiture. Each painting will be a disp[...]
Some of the best advice I’ve ever received is “You gotta use what you got, kid.” When you have a disability and your job requires you to effectively market yourself, it’s tricky to find the balance of just how much it should play a role in your marketing strategy. While it’s true that I have physical challenges that cause me a decent amount of physical pain and affect every aspect of my life, these challenges are not necessarily the first thing for which I want to be remembered. I have to deal with more phy[...]
One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do you manage to have such a positive attitude when your life is so hard and full of so much physical pain?” Well, there’s a few reasons. The first is that I was raised not to feel sorry for myself. My mother in particular just wouldn’t allow it, which as a child was frustrating, but now I couldn’t be more thankful. She taught me that everyone has challenges and that this physical one was mine. I could either find a way to deal with it or my life would be pr[...]
As some of you know, I’m a huge Ellen Degeneres fan. Not only are we both from the same city, but we are both avid animal lovers. It is literally one of my ultimate life goals to meet her one day and work with her on a project or two. Ellen has the reputation as being one of the kindest celebrities out there, and she does a ton of work with animal rescue all over the nation. Like mine, all of her pets are rescues, and you can tell from her social media posts that they are as much her family as her two-footed family (which[...]
Most people with Osteogenesis Imperfecta take part in some type of regular physical therapy and/or exercise program. You may think that because we break bones easily we would not be able to do that, but in reality, PT helps our bodies keep moving. Certainly we have to be careful, but anything we can do to allow our bodies to move in a more normal way, like swimming or walking in the water, is ultimately beneficial for our breakage rates, breathing, and overall pain levels. Aside from swimming, the absolute best therapy we[...]