Art has been with me for as long as I can remember, quietly following me through every place I have loved and every version of myself I have become. San Antonio gave me color and spirit; New Orleans gave me mystery and soul; and the years between taught me to look deeper and listen more closely to my own heart. For a time, I stepped away from art, searching for something I could not yet name. Near the end of my father’s life, he asked me to return to it, and somehow, in his words, I heard a part of myself I had almost forgotten. Picking up a brush again felt like coming home after being away for far too long. I returned with older hands, a softer heart, and a deeper understanding of why I create. Today, every layer of paper, paint, and beeswax carries something of that journey, the people I have loved, the places that have shaped me, and the quiet realization that sometimes what we spend our lives searching for has been inside us all along.