“Dreams”

I remember the first time I saw a picture of Maroon Bells. I was in 8th grade. My crush at the time was in love with Colorado and dreamt of living there. So naturally, I started to be fascinated by Colorado. The picture represented more than just a place for me. It represented the life I wanted to live. It's hard to explain feeling connected to a place I had never been before, but something inside of me knew that the next chapter of my life would be in Colorado. I started this painting my senior year of high school. At the time, I was going through a breakup and was searching for a way to reconnect with myself. I decided to paint the place I would rather be. Every day I would get home from school and put on the Turn Blue album by The Black Keys on the record player and get lost in the painting. Four years later, I was going through yet another breakup and decided to actually go to the place I would rather be to finally see Maroon Bells in person. I will never forget the way I felt seeing it for the first time. It is hard to put into words, but it felt like getting closure from the life I was living before and a sign to move on to the next chapter.

   Now, almost 10 years after first seeing this picture. I am living in Colorado and living the life that 13-year-old me dreamed of having. All because I saw a photo of this mountain. Sometimes I wonder where I would be or who I would be if I had never fallen in love with a picture of a place I had never seen in person. I was speechless the first time I saw Maroon Bells in person. It was hard to believe that after all this time, I had finally seen what I spent so many years trying to recreate. This painting represents a dream coming into reality by your own manifestation. To be 13 years old, and see a photo knowing that one day I would be there and that it would be an incredible journey to get there. 

Song: “Weight of Love” by The Black Keys