A Bit of History
About 20 years and many moons ago I was an elementary teacher living my best life. At the time I was teaching 5th grade, had received my National Board Certification, was training other educators in creative writing, and had an incredible career ahead of me. What I didn’t see coming though was my body failing me at the time I needed it most.
When I was 23 I had my first lower back surgery because I had blown a disc. From someone who had been a serious athlete and loved dynamic movement, having a doctor tell me that my discs had aged prematurely to about an 85 year old was extremely hard to accept. Surgery ensued and they were able to repair it which bought me about 10 years of an orthopedically normal life. I was devoted to teaching, to raising my son and eventually my step-children, and then out of the blue, my disc shattered in my sleep. One thing led to another, joints deteriorated, my disc disease spread, and 20+ surgeries later I had to go on disability and give up teaching. It was soul crushing.
As a way to not lose my mind, I went to the library and checked out books about watercolor painting. I had always loved color and watercolors seemed like they would be fun to try. To my surprise, I quickly found that I had a knack for visual transfer and an absolute rogue approach to using color, and that began the journey where creativity, art, and color would help my body heal. It would also change the entire trajectory of my life.
Creativity is one of those forces in the world that I just seem to embrace like I am breathing. I think part of that had to do with being an imaginative child, raised my parents who fostered that ability in me, and in the way my own brain developed to view the world through the lenses of ideas, imagination, problem solving, and the unexpected. These experiences all worked in my favor over the years, despite the medical and emotion traumas, and helped create the perfect salve for my spirit which was broken. I turned to art as a way to cope, and with the help of my incredible husband, family, and faith, paired with moments connected to creativity, play, and study, my outlook on life began to mend and my body followed suit. Physical therapy also played an enormous role in that healing process.
One of the most important lessons I learned through the journey of medical and personal emotional trauma was that life is absolutely fragile and unpredictable. Several times since I was young I faced death face to face, yet I survived and it permeated my heart with the knowing to take nothing for granted. Not time, not family, not health, not freedom, nothing because it is all fleeting. I think it was one of the gifts that loss afforded me and every single day I wake I am reminded just how precious this one moment is. That is part of the force that drives me to create the way I do, how often I do, with the tools and imagination I love…..with passion. The Land of Ardithian is distinctly my way of seeing, processing, and moving through the world with creative lenses from the perspective of my inner child.
So is it a book….yes. But honestly this project is so much more than that. You see, I have this desire, as an ordinary human who has lived an extraordinary life, to use the gift of my own creativity and imagination to become a wayshower for others. I don’t say that out of arrogance, but out of an honest awareness that the gifts I have been given in life, the journey that I have survived and experienced, all come with deep responsibility and importance to spread the concept of hope, determination, and creative pursuits as being worthwhile. As the images and words begin to show and become published, as the paintings evolve and their stories expand, and as my creative use of technology and materials combine I am willing to offer others a chance to pull up a chair and witness the ride. Will it be successful…I have no idea ?But I can tell you this, it will be successful in its own way as an example of what human courage, determination, and creativity look like in a life well lived.
Over time and interviews, I will share much more about the personal challenges and medical journey I have walked because it has been insanely remarkable and transformative. For today though, just sharing a little bit about who this crazy woman is that creates these oddly delicious characters was important so that you have some insight as to what drove me to my imaginative bliss…and the power that journey holds for all of us.
My history has taught me that I am a survivor, a teacher, a woman with a big heart, and a completely imperfect beautiful mess of a human most days. I relish in the fact that I don’t have all of the answers…ever, and as frustrating and unpredictable I feel life is some days, it is also precious and gloriously relevant. The Land of Ardithian is an imaginative fusion of my life in many ways with a completely non-sensical adventure of wacky characters, places, and words meant to entertain and delight the inner child in all of us. It will not be everyone’s cup of tea…but for those who resonate with it….welcome home, your inner Wooglian or Porg is loved here.
