Willy Wonka Painting

I, Jewel K. Flores, am a self-taught artist who has channeled my life experiences into my oil paintings. My work, no matter the subject or style, portrays a sort of raw emotion and unfiltered human experience. I found my passion for art at a young age. Drawing became one of my favorite hobbies and pass-times, and I fondly remember the hours I spent crouched over my art supplies that were strewn across the window seat where I was perched. I began experimenting with oil painting as a teenager but didn't pursue it further until years later. At the age of eighteen, I started traveling solo around the world, and by the age of twenty-one I had traveled to Central America, Europe, and Africa. I learned Swahili in order to volunteer in the refugee community in Colorado and poured myself into my travels and business endeavors as a small business owner. Eventually the trauma from my childhood caught up to me, and under the overwhelming burden of it all, I started to paint. I bought a used set of oil painting supplies and embarked on my newest journey- that of healing. Of course, art was only one facet of my healing process, but it served as an excellent release. I painted intermittently for several years. After I found the love of my life, I finally mustered up the courage to display some of my work at a local coffee shop in Denver, Colorado. It was an incredibly vulnerable and empowering experience, and it inspired me to develop my artistic skills and share more with the world. My husband has supported me in all of my endeavors, and it is him that has made it possible for me to focus on my art. I started to teach art to kids online and I continue to develop my skills as a painter. I began teaching not having any idea that it would turn into a successful business that I could use to help young ones develop a love for art just as I did. I began painting with no idea that I would one day be able to share my art with the world. Perhaps it is the ambitions we didn't even know we had that, once realized, make life so much more surprising and delightful. The quote that I displayed with my art the first time I ever shared it in that little coffee shop in Denver, summarizes my whole endeavor: "I display here all that is vulnerable and raw. It is my hope that my art can touch someone's heart, and even if just one person feels that they are profoundly understood through one of my pieces, I will have achieved my goal."