Bio
I was born and raised in Suburban Northern New Jersey. My first experiences with art came from watching my grandmother paint with oils in her workroom. She is a very talented lady who showed me the wonders of expressing yourself on canvas. In fact, she had me painting with water colors almost before I could even put full sentences together. I learned to look at life through the eyes of the artist. Things most people take for granted stand out to an artist like so many photos in a family album.
Before I was even a teen I was diagnosed with cancer. For nearly 2 years, life as I previously knew it stood still while I struggled to survive. In fact, life as I knew it had died. You learn to look at life in a different way after staring death in the face. Yet even during my darkest times I still shared my feelings through artistic expression. Some days the hospital would even let me paint their windows to help make the place look more cheerful.
Eventually I defeated cancer and can now call myself a survivor. However, I had to rebuild who I was inside and out, so the inspiration to create was not a priority for me.
As I healed my body and mended my soul new opportunities entered my life and things started to change for the better. The present company I keep has inspired me to want to create again.
With all this is mind, I find myself going down a road I've never been down before and it's a bit scary at times. However with the right company holding your hand, it's not as scary and it's a little less lonely.
Every time I sign Kiki (a name I have not been called for years) I show my gratitude to those who have supported me and told me it is okay to paint outside the box.