My avatar here is from my batik series “No One Told Me it Would Lead to This”, the title from the opening lines of one of David’s poems. Having triumphantly recovered from a prolonged, severe depression, which I also documented in a different series, I stepped way outside my comfort zone and wondered what would happen if I applied my technique on paper instead of fabric. It has lead to everything – sales, shows, profound delight in work produced. I’d have never known this had I not followed the road first through, then over what appeared to be a very dark mountain but that ended up being a surmountable path up and into the light. Vulnerability was my companion and I gratefully trusted it enough to step aside and have, as David might say, “the conversation” while the art began to flow.

Daring greatly guided me once before, up 2/3rds of Everest (something this small town Canadian thought (knew) she’d never see let alone trek), changed everything and introduced into my life, the guarantee that anything is possible. Being vulnerable means that I am alive, I am enough and I have endless courage (and fear at times). Being an artist offers me the chance to be deeply seen and for that opportunity, I am grateful.