Solidarity Painting

My mission with the sale of my art is to make substantial donations to The National Alliance For the Mentally Ill (NAMI). In 2020, I lost a brother who fought mental illness all of his life. He died of natural causes - I do not want my story to be misleading - but he died in an institution and his struggle was of a magnitude that I think few people have any real understanding of. Stigma says people with mental illness are weak. They are not. Stigma says they have no hope of being productive members of society. There is always hope and always a contribution from these people. Stigma says they are too unpredictable, too sad to be drawn into a productive society. My brother taught me through demonstrating that these people are STRONG, AMAZING, PASSIONATE, LARGER THAN LIFE - not broken, weak, helpless, hopeless. I am proud to be a supporter of NAMI to help people dealing with mental illness, whether in themselves or supporting a loved one. I WILL DONATE 50% OF MY PROFITS (AFTER COMMISSIONS AND ALL EXPENSES) TO NAMI AFTER RECEIVING PAYMENT FROM THE GALLERY FOR SALE OF THE PIECE AND AFTER THE RETURN WINDOW HAS PASSED. I often explore feelings and always examine the human experience in my work. I love portraying people, emotion, spirituality, and the natural world in vibrant color. I define my work as expressionism heavily influenced by a love of nature, the female form, and Earth / Goddess centered spirituality. I seek to understand how the mind works through art. Some of my portraits are representations of my spiritual influences and others are simply portrayals of the beauty all women possess. I enjoy connecting to my spirituality by combining abstracts with portrayals of nature and nature spirits and deities, mostly expressed in the female form. I feel that the divine feminine has long been stifled by narrow-minded conceptions of the nature of God; thus, I like to paint portrayals of this beautiful aspect of spirituality. Do not expect realism, but expressionist portrayals of the beauty of people, the spirit world, and all the diversity of beauty that the Earth surrounds us with. Creating feels uplifting to me and I like to approach it with an open mind. Concentrating too much on trying to push a particular direction can ruin the experience. I want to continue experimenting and no subject is off-limits for me, including abstract expressions.