After years of generalised symptoms and misdiagnosis, I was recently diagnosed with EGPA vasculitis, an autoimmune disease. Following my most recent exacerbation, I have been left with neuropathy in both hands. As an art teacher of nearly twenty-five years, this has been both physically and emotionally devastating.

Painting has always existed alongside the many demands of life—work, family, dogs, home, and countless other projects that filled my time and energy. Illness has unexpectedly created the time to paint, yet at the same moment introduced a physical barrier that makes the act of painting more difficult than it has ever been.

This is not where I was, nor where I expect to remain, but it is where I am for now. Within this space there is both therapy and frustration: the struggle between the desire to create and the body’s new limitations.

My portraits focus on women who embody quiet strength. They are stoic, resigned, proud, and deeply feminine. Through them I explore resilience—the capacity to endure, to adapt, and to remain present even when circumstances shift beyond our control. In many ways, these figures reflect the emotional landscape I now inhabit: a place where vulnerability and strength exist side by side.

 Oil on Canvas

 30x40cm

 Framed in an open frame