Photo by Noelle Johnson
My first childhood memory was hiding behind my mother’s back while apologizing to our neighbor for picking all the flowers from her garden. I knew in my heart what we sometimes forget as adults—to behold a flower is to connect with sacred beauty and energy that delights our soul. One of the perks of being an artist is viewing the world through a child’s eyes again and living each day as a source of inspiration and wonder.
I must have flowers always and always.
—Claude Monet—
I wasn’t able to do this until I thought I was dying. In 2009 I developed a life-threatening allergy to heat. I was barely able to move without having an anaphylactic reaction to my body’s own heat. Since I felt that my life was over, I decided to finally surrender to what my heart had always secretly wanted to do—create art.
No longer able to spend time in my beloved garden in the humid Midwest, I began painting flowers instead of planting them. Painting became my therapy as I dealt with my new limitations. In 2010 my family and I relocated to the Pacific Northwest for its temperate climate. I’m at home among the towering evergreens, rampant moss, misty mountain air and limitless shades of green.
Today, I paint daily in our mountain farmhouse, my art is licensed on products worldwide, and I feel more alive than ever before from the constant expansion of my heart, mind and soul by following my passion wherever it leads. My heat allergy has lessened in severity, and I am able to be more physically active. While writing this book, I even began doing yoga, which has expanded my art and life in the most luminous ways. It turns out my dreadful heat allergy realigned my life and led to all my dreams coming true.
The takeaway message? Don’t wait until you think your life is over to do what you love. Listen to your heart’s whispers. Start today.