my everything is my Art, I was drawing things since I could crawl, and my only passion in life is to be able to support my family through my art work. The Thing that lifts me up when I'm down is good music and being able to paint what's on my mind. A lot of the things I did in my life all represent different colors. I painted on a rock a portrait of Frida Kahlo from heart, Frida represents the freedom of painting whatever you want with the symbolic representation of how I'm feeling. Bright splashes of color or dark colors are all a chemistry set of how I feel when I enter that one zone where everything aligns perfectly with my emotions. However not all my inspiration goes to the great artists of histories past, but rather to my Great Grandmother Louella Marie "Babe" Mason. Babe was the Inspiration to my works despite passing away two years after I was born, she somehow reached out to me and made me who I am today with my art. She was famous for her paintings and had many famous friends that she'd party with. She was friends with Robert Redford, The Osmond siblings, and a bunch of others including Tony hawk who was friends with my uncle Fuzzy, a Famous Dirt biker. She'd make Tony and fuzzy sit at the table while she made them lunch or dinner, or she'd offer them sweets in the early mornings. And When she'd not surrounded by the people that she loves, she'd be found at her many studios that she'd have in Brigham cry and Willard. to me she was the whole reason why I love Art and Would like to someday follow in her steps.

my mother was dying from cancer and so she sent me to stay a few weeks up in Oregon with my real mom and my little sister. (Evelyn is my sister holding the stuffed crocodile.) To me this is a bold picture because it shows me during a time where I wasn't scared and I wasn't sad, just at peace, And no worry of Losing my entire world, in fact I was somewhere where the world couldn't touch me and I was safe. This picture represented a time in my life where I wasn't afraid, and that makes me proud.

I have suffered from depression and anxiety for about nearly 7 years, I never went to shrink or anything, and I was never put on medication. I have had horrid suicidal thoughts cross over me from time to time after I lost my Only family member that I loved from Cancer. and a few years earlier my father was killed from an accidental overdose on medication. I was 6 when that happened and then I was twelve when my mother died. I struggled for a long time in school, making friends, keeping good grades and trying to be a normal teenager. Growing up when your young is extremely hard. I had to learn real quick that the world was not going to wait and stop for me. I had to do things on my own, and friends and family that I've made along my journey I had to lie to, so that I didn't worry them. I was stupid and still am for not talking to them about how I truly felt. When I was twelve my mother died, I was taken away from my family by a really bad, bad man. I saw abuse, I saw my family ripping each other apart over money, and I saw never being able to grieve because in my mind I told my self that I don't have time to cry, that I have to keep going even when it's extremely hard. I'm 18 years old now, I graduated from high school with a 4.0 Gpa, I made tons of friends these last three years, And I'm now with a loving family. The only problem is No matter what I do I sometimes get sucked up into a depressive episode and will sink into myself, I['d stop caring for myself, I'll stop talking or I'm moody and I don't mean to be but that's just how it is. My depression has affected my feelings of faith. I know out there is some sort of higher power out there, but I get bitter and angry and I curse everything I believe in and it makes me feel worse because then a worse situation only gets more terrible. You can only be strong for so long that you actually believe in it. you manage to convince yourself that your okay when you're not and that you'd get through it, but for how long? I struggled with relationships, Healthy ones at that, turned toxic from my bitterness and my anxiety of being abandoned. I struggled with school, everyday was a fight to try to stay afloat, and convince my self just one more day." And now Because I managed to drag my sad self out of the gutter I managed to graduate from high school, make friends, and now I'm awaiting my next step in life for college. I only hope that I can earn enough money to help me pay for tuition, Run through college, earn my certification and licensing and earn a degree in both cosmetology and Mortuary sciences so that I may better my chances of having a successful life.

I'm not gonna lie, I suffered from depressive episodes where I couldn't get out of bed, I stopped caring for myself, I'd get panic attacks whenever I'd leave the house when I was forced to go out and take the dogs for a walk. Some days would get so bad, I'd start to think, I'd overthink to the point I'd make myself sick, or I'd get mood swings that can cause you whiplash. I'd be happy one moment then sad the next, or unreasonably angry sometimes for no reason at all. I think this all started when I was a little kid. I lost my dad at a young age, and the thing was I watched him die. and then fast forward a year after I lose My aunt, My grandparents, and my family, I lost my mother 6 years ago to cancer, and she was stuck in hospice ( where they'd send a suicide nurse. (I didn't know that was a thing and I thought she was helping my mom get better. I was wrong.) After I lost her, I was taken away from my family against my will and left to stay with a super abusive family member who was getting into some bad stuff. then when He was arrested I was sent to live with my aunt, and By then things started to settle in and I became depressed. I started having horrible thoughts about myself, and even now I will feel the effects of what happened to me still to this day.