A sneak peak behind the upcoming By The Bay series

When I lived away from the ocean, I would dream of it, cry when I say it on a tv show and would immediately be home sick. Now 5 years later and 10 minutes away from the ocean I sometimes forget to see it for months. It’s been so easy to get caught up in the day to day, running a business from home and then you add a global pandemic on top of it and I needed a “reset.”

I was at home and I took a few minutes to be still and I knew what I needed to do.

It was a rainy Bellingham, Washington day but if you are a local you know that doesn’t stop you. I grab my bag, threw in a journal and hopped in my car with one thing on my mind. I needed nature, I needed to see the ocean, I needed to feel that grounding that my soul was craving.

I ended up sitting on a park bench away from everyone.

The boat marina only a little bit away, sailboat in the bay and the sunset only a few hours away. The air had a crispness to it and there were off and on bats of misty rain.

It wouldn’t stop me, pulled out my daily journal and began to unpack word after word. At the end I felt this deep peace and refreshment that I had been craving. It was in that moment that I wanted to draw… this may sound funny because I am an artist who creates for a living.

But sometimes that comes with its own set of burdens and the initial excitement to create for the sake of creating can sometimes get lost. So this moment of wanting, craving, having my hands be drawn towards my pen and allowing my mind to just be free to create whatever it wanted. Nothing based on a plan, just that deep internal longing to find the joy and freedom of creating without obligations.

So that’s just what I did.

Fast, loose sketches of the harbor, the boats, the marina packed full of beautiful lines and angles found from the docked sailboats.

Thats where this small collection of paintings are coming from. They are that connection with the simple beauty. The freedom that comes from letting go and allowing ourselves to be fully alive. To breathe in deep the air around us and then respond. I’m finding that place is both beautiful and terrifying because it challenges everything my brain wants to control. But when I allow myself those sacred moments I truly find what it means to be human.

Alive, unsure, present, responsive.