For me, art is make-believe. It's enchantment. It's a fable. I'm enjoying that and playing with it. Of course it's serious, and art is serious, but I'm not going to rarefy it. - Shea Hembrey

I had a brief discussion with someone on Twitter recently about my art. He was generously complimenting it and it made me think. I spent my entire career following briefs, “designing within a box” if you will. Structure, measurement and precision balance were the order of the day - every day for over twenty years. Sure, I loved my business - I was (I think) an incredibly passionate business owner, but if I think back quite a bit further than that to my school days - the type of creative expression I was captivated and enchanted by was always the complete opposite of what I ended up doing to make bread and butter.

It has been the most wonderful journey so far being able to re-open the door to that uninhibited part of my creative self. Just allowing myself to “color outside the lines” for a change - live freely and be myself… it has ignited the most incredible and renewed passion within me and I am finding that each and every time I create a new piece, I rediscover another fun facet within me which had been buried and forgotten by the requirement to socially conform, provide and deliver.

Never again!

Ever!

“Be authentically you. The world doesn’t revolve around you, but it depends on you. Be consistent. Be your best self. Show up every day like the sunrise, wearing your finest garment, and be ready to shine brightly in every life and every circumstance that you touch.” ― Janet Autherine