Did all the creativity come leaking out?

I was asked this recently after posting this piece of art. It made me laugh, out loud.  You may not know this, I graduated from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston with a BFA in Art History. I was originally accepted as a metalsmith/ jeweler. I also worked in the foundry welding, casting, and forging.  I mostly worked in 3-D and briefly changed my major to sculpture to go big. Eventually, I declared my major as Art History to allow me to experience all different studio art  classes - ceramics, glass blowing, photography.

Creativity has always ridden shotgun. I spent the last 20+ years channeling creativity into being a mom and my work in marketing. My kiddo’s birthday parties were epic roller derby or cloudy with a chance of meatball fetes. I’d make custom team T-shirt’s or intricately detailed and decorated cakes. I've given feedback/direction on book covers and layouts and designed hundreds of ads and brochures.


 really struggled to connect with creativity ever since the stroke in August 2020.  The words were not there and ideas were much harder to gather. I never painted or created 2-D work until the concussion in May 2023. Without screens or devices for 2 months, i just hung out with myself on the porch, enjoying the weather and tooling around with watercolor markers. Then in August at the LYB retreat I never left my bunk without water, markers, and my concussion sketchbook.

I guess that's when the creativity started to leak out again. It took a stroke and concussion for me to see myself as an artist. Let’s just say the universe refocused and  slowed me down.