Seeking Enlightenment

I have been gardening for almost 10 years. There is no one in my family to hand down the skills of a gardener, so I started out small with a raised bed and relied on books and the internet as guides.

Everyone has a measure of creativity in them, and every work of art has a story. For me, it was a long journey from the inception of, “I think I can paint” to picking up the brush and pallet knives and doing it.

Last month kicked off my first showing as the artist-in-residence for the Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville. It’s been an amazing experience to have the opportunity to express the orchestra’s rich performances through visual art.

It has been a year since I made the decision to change the way I was doing life. I had spent the last 24 years in retail management and worked for three different companies over that period of time.

I am the artist-in-residence for the Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville this season. I paint to music, and my mission was to translate Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 “Organ Symphony.”

It has been four months since I decided to leave my job and be a farm intern while following my creative calling to paint. In the past, I took pride in being able to accomplish a lot in a small space of time.