Art + Humor=My Second Career

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. But there is no cure for curiosity.”  I’ve certainly lived this quote. I can say that I have never been bored because my curiosity has ridden over most all my other needs and emotions. I drove my parents crazy with the “What’s that? Where are we going? How was this made? Why do we do it this way?” questions; having to be quieted with the typical parental answer of, “Because.” 

I have spent my whole life living outside of the box looking at things different from others, trying to figure out why things have been done one way and why couldn’t they be done another way. For instance, when I saw a rusty toaster in a garbage can I thought, “what a great body for a doll!” Another example was a carpenter friend of mine had collected a large bin of specialty wooden pencils from lumber yards. I asked him if I could have them and turned them into a unique rustic frame for a wall mirror.

Luckily I share my mother’s artistic gift and had my fingers in different mediums of art all my life, i.e. batiking, candle making, acrylic painting, murals, graphic design, folk art design, collage, furniture making and fauxing, and sewing. However, being a single mother of two boys, I had to work in the corporate world to bring in a stable paycheck. This kept me from taking my creative interests seriously.

In 2002, at the age of 50 years old, I had some personal tragedies that caused me to have a stroke. I had to relearn to read, write, talk and walk. This forced me to slow down and reevaluate my priorities. My boys were always my top priority but they no longer lived at home. I had recently divorced so it was important to finally focus on me. I asked myself, “What would make you happy? What is your passion?”

Being unable to work again in the stressful, fast paced lifestyle of corporate business the answer was immediate. Art. Design. Humor. My father gave me his twisted ‘humor’ gene and it is a big part of who I am. Laughter and whimsy has always helped me shine inside. So the answer became humorous art, Whimsical Curiosities.