Iara mãe D'agua - Brazilian Folklore Collection Painting

Half Italian and half Brazilian, I was born in Brazil but traveled very much with traveling parents. Untiil the age of five we lived in many different parts of Brazil, from north to south. At the age of 6 my family imigrated to the United States, where we lived for 5 years. We returned to Brazil, and after some time struggling with financial problems and lack of opportunities, moved back to the USA. This time, to Florida, at the age of 18, where I had the opportunity of taking part in the art cenario and started my journey as an artist. At the age of 21 I moved back to Brazil on my owm, to persue my career as an artist in my native country. Instead of the arts, though, I had good teaching opportunities and soon became a teacher. At 22 I became pregnant to my first child and decided I would put art on hold until my child was old enough. Life followed through. My boy and I travelled to Europe, lived a year in Italy, came back to Brazil, I got married, had more children, got divorced, remarried, kept teaching for many years, stopped teacher, became a professional photographer as life followed its course. It wasn't until this year thatI realized it was time to pick up on a promised I had made to myself. By the time I reached 50, I would have dedicated my life to my children and family and it would be time to go back to art. So here I am, 48, making my way back to myself.