My favorite art to create would be mixed media pieces that pay homage to my lived experiences, as well as the experiences of those before me. I explore all different types of media, from watercolor and charcoal, to working with found bones and specimens. I use shreds of newspapers that tell stories that should be remembered, or little found bones from animals whose lives were just as important as mine, enmeshed with my own emotional splatter of paints and imagery that tell a story of my own.

I find inspiration in nature, in my family, and in the mental health world. I work in art therapy, and am blessed to use my love of making art to help others. From my own mental health hiccups in the road, to those of the people I serve, there is inspiration based in emotion everywhere. There is nothing in nature that does not inspire me. A stick is never just a stick in my eyes. And my daughters are my biggest inspiration. They are my most prideful masterpieces I have created in this lifetime.

$25,000 would give me the opportunity to focus on my art more, and give my little girls better opportunities to explore their passions. The financial burden this would lift off me would allow me to have extra monthly income that could pay for extracurriculars for my daughters. It would also give me the funds to renovate a room in our house that I hope to turn into a play space with a gallery wall of all their work, so they can see that what they create and put out into this world is important.