I've spent most of my life creating art, but somewhere along the way, I forgot what it felt like to create simply for the joy of it.
After selling Bunglo, I promised myself two years of painting freely. No deadlines, no expectations, just the freedom to explore. Around that time, I became pregnant with my second daughter, took an art therapy class that reignited my love for painting, and we began transforming the fourth-floor attic of our century-old home into an art studio.
For years, I'd told myself that when I retired, I would become a painter. Then one day it occurred to me - why wait?
Painting was where it all began. At sixteen, I was already taking commissions around town. I went to college for painting and discovered photography along the way, which I've always loved to think of as painting with light.
My years as a photographer, traveling and living around the world, have deeply informed the dreamlike quality of my paintings. I often find myself reminiscing about life along the Mediterranean, months spent in an ashram in India, or nearly a year of traveling with no itinerary, just one-way tickets and an openness to wherever life might lead. Those experiences, the colors, the light, the sense of wonder and possibility, continue to find their way onto my canvases.
After nearly a decade of painting patterns and designing textiles for Bunglo, I also see that influence woven into my work. The intricate layers, unexpected colors, and tapestry-like compositions feel familiar, but this time, every painting is entirely one of a kind. I love that you can stare at these pieces for hours and continue discovering something new.
These days, I paint between nap times, early Sunday mornings, and late at night when I really should be sleeping. My work has become an exploration of color, nature, spirituality, and those fleeting moments of magical light that remind us anything is possible.
A special thank you to my husband, who has kept my paintings since he was sixteen, continued collecting my work throughout the years, and created the most beautiful little attic studio for me. His belief in my art has been one of the greatest gifts.
I don't know where this journey will lead, and I'm perfectly happy not knowing. I just know how much I love creating.
Thank you for being here, for following my art as it evolves, and for being part of this new chapter.
With love,
Shay