Creative Expressions: Art and Autism

Picturing Gratitude is a selection of my paintings and prose embracing fiction, fact, loss, and joy. A life’s journey takes and gives, like the tides upon the shores. The ebb and flow of life is always full of surprises. The welcomed, unexpected things are easy to forget. It’s the uninvited ones that haunt and taunt the soul. At 32, my son passed and left me here to stay, to ponder on my own without him, as if I had a choice. Each person’s journey is theirs and theirs only. We survive… but surviving isn’t thriving, at best it’s barely living.
It’s only in love and being present that we can thrive. We were not put on this earth to live only partially but as our very best selves. If not, we are cheating ourselves out of many blessings.
As my new reality unfolds, I begin to struggle forth, and create new ways to live my life, and learn to love myself. Through my journey, from happier times to tragedies, I’ve learned I’ve always had the tools inside to keep me thriving through acts of simple gratitude.