Paint it Forward
As an adult helping people, changing lives and making a difference has always been something I wanted to incorporate into my art work. I grew up with an incredible mother Linda Seidel who helped people with her makeup line feel better about themselves and I watched her when I was a little girl to an adult make this happen over and over again. Covering up thousands of burns, birthmarks, scars and a variety of skin disorders to help people fit into society so they would feel better about themselves made such a difference in people’s lives. It dramatically changed them and I was blessed to be a part of that all of my life! It made me a better person.
Now, because I personally had this connection already, I am going to take my bodyart and talent and make it count like she did! I have always had the idea for Paint It Forward and now I am really putting it out there into the universe because of a personal situation that happened recently in my life that I am going to share with you all.
My youngest daughter was diagnosed at 2 years old in 2002 with Psoriasis, an auto immune skin disease. The medical professionals said it would most likely go away and she would probably grow out of it. It got worse and so she went on different medications which sometimes worked but never fully made it disappear. It finally started to get better and then last year in 2011, as she was approaching her sixteenth year she was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease related to but different, in the family of Crohn’s disease. This disease is a disheartening disease and I deeply sympathize with anyone who has to live with this illness. Not only does it affect the ill patient but it affects the family helping to cope with the disease. We have had a very hard year with lots of ups and downs. It has definitely been life changing and difficult! but now I have even more of a reason for launching Paint It Forward! During one of the very rough patches as I lay in her hospital room during one of her lengthy visits I found myself thinking heavily of my Paint It Forward concept! It was all I needed to push me to the next step and jump start this amazing chapter in our lives. I believe that I can make a difference one child, or person or even animal at a time with my work by using my body paint and artwork. I can create more awareness and smiles with your help. I will do what I can to make this happen and I hope you will too. Please visit our Paint It Forward page and learn more of how you can help!
PS. So ironic that when we shot the Paint It Forward logo years ago using hands as the world we used my daughters hands not knowing she was going to be diagnosed with UC.