I write to understand my world. This poem is about my mother who died in April of 2019. There is so much I wish I would have asked her. She would be thrilled about my debut novel, "The Lockhart Women", which will be published in June of 2021 by She Writes Press. The novel is dedicated to my mother but is not about her at all.

I share these stories because I believe the spirit of a woman is one of a warrior. We are designed to withstand pain but the magic is in transforming it into greatness. Human beings have the power to create beauty from any circumstance, if the belief in self-worth and love is strong enough to bring yourself out of darkness.

I am a Knoxville, TN based mixed media painter. My process is intuitive. I work to create a balance between harmony and contrast, simplicity and accumulation, and stillness and motion. As the painting progresses, I often add more concrete elements such as botanical or figurative shapes. In this latest series called, “Story of a Girl,” I have been exploring the use of imagery connected to the idea of femininity and aspects of it that are meaningful to me.