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“It has been a year full of growth both personally and professionally.   In such a short time, my business has grown leaps and bounds.

As with all growth, there have been some growing pains along the way. I’ve felt the push and pull between my business and home life, for sure.  I’ve explored my wants, my needs, my goals, and my limits and feel like I have finally found my path.  I’m not sure where the final destination will be, but I am sure that I am on the right road to get there. 

The wonderful thing about this creative journey is seeing the evolution and change happen within both myself and my work.  I am constantly learning and trying new things; testing new limits, reaching and failing, and then trying again.  Nothing about this has been easy.  Nothing.  One thing I do know is that I am certainly not the same person or artist I was when I first began, that is for sure.

My work has been one of my greatest blessings and at the very same time, one of my biggest frustrations.  It feels so amazing to create and express myself artistically while at the very same time connecting with some truly amazing people; both clients and other professionals. To have a vision and to bring it to life is the most insanely powerful experience ever.  And there are times, for sure, where it has its lows and I question myself.  During those low times and points of self-reflection, I always (one way or another) end up at the same conclusion—this is what I was made to do.

It’s hard out there.  It really is.  There are some insanely talented artists out there and sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the sea of people.  I get rejected A LOT; professional rejection from publishers, personal rejection from clients who hire someone else.  But, what I am learning is it’s OKAY!  I am not the right match for everyone and that is 100% and completely fine.   The ones who truly value me and my work will come and I am oh, so ready.

I’ve been told that I need “thick skin” to survive this business.  I’ve been told to toughen up, to change my frame of mind, to alter what makes me, me.  I’ve always been an emotional and deep person.  But, what I have recently discovered is that being a deep person ISN’T a flaw.  These deep feelings and emotions are what make me able to connect.  And in order to create, I need to feel.   

So, I am putting my blinders on and forging forward.  I am so excited to see what the future holds, who I will meet, what I will create, and whose stories I will tell, even if they are simply my own.” 

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