I’ve always wanted to listen to my heart, but it wasn’t until I began to heal from the most traumatic loss of my life that I truly started to hear what my heart was telling me. Now, I’m following a path guided by its messages.

Although the path is not clearly defined, an essential part of being the queen of my heart involves taking the time and giving myself the space needed to figure things out. This means practicing self-compassion when plans go awry or when I can’t create a plan at all!

I created this larger mixed-media piece following my retirement from teaching. Although it was a significant life transition, it was nothing like the one that followed my husband’s illness and death.
I find myself returning to this idea once again. This has become my primary focus at this stage of my life.

When creating this piece, I painted the background with vivid spray ink colors. I hand-colored a vintage heart illustration and cut the leaves and lilies from many different papers and pieces of lace. I drew my listener’s face with a marker, pastel, and colored pencil. Her hair is styled using my signature technique of cutting and weaving different types of paper.