Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

I started painting 20 years ago. And coming back from a full day of painting, my husband would say: “Painting is your salvation.”

At the time, I wasn’t sure what he meant.

But a decade later, no truer words were said.

Painting continues to burn like a glowing amber in my heart.

Its the fuel that bounces me out of bed at 4 or 5 in the morning. Every morning! And it captures my full attention. Totally.

Every emotion is tangled up with my experience of painting — mostly love.

I used to think love was something you did. You loved someone deeply.

You loved a good hot delicious meal.

But love for me arises out of my gut and is tied to this physical need to paint.

I’m the happiest when I’m painting. As a kid, I was a sword fighter and fenced with a foil.

I notice I wield my paint brushes in a similar manner.

I’m caught in a fierce battle in front of a canvas. Paint brushes flying like fencing foils, as I stab and dob paint in a hyper-focused and meditative way.

Never does a day go by without painting.