Dr. Katherine Sharp, my family's minister, had identified an artistic ability in me at a very young age. Because of her insight and my parents support, I began private lessons for drawing and painting with Nancy Lubow who ran a music and art studio in Quakertown.
Other than that joyful experience learning about color, shape and lines, I have not been formally trained.
Fast forward to 2005, I first discovered the art of anime and loved it. This led to my in-terest in becoming a tattoo artist and I apprenticed in a tattoo shop.
In 2013, I had a life-changing accident that altered the direction of my entire life. To be brief, I was drugged at a party and left for dead walking home in a winter storm.
After multiple hospitalizations and years of physical therapy dealing with seizures, Hypo-thermia, loss of gross motor control on the right side of my body, and profound aphasia
I started a long recovery back to a completely different life.
During this process, I discovered the healing power of art and music therapy, working with Nancy Lubow who had become a licensed trauma therapist, and P. hD.in psycholo-gy, I learned how to control my larger muscles systems using music while painting on large panels of paper that we called "body art".
Art therapy gave me a sense of control over my body and my emotions. As I pro-gressed, my fine motor control improved and I was able to paint and draw flowers, and portraits in realistic detail. I had a small permanent art exhibit in a local business recep-tion area starting in 2017. In reconnecting with my daughter in that same year,
I was inspired to create images of her favourite Disney characters.
Unfortunately, medical complications from my accident have started to deteriorate the nerves in my right arm, making detailed drawing challenging.
This led me to create the art I am doing now.