Mental Health Charity Programs

What does being an artist mean to you? 

Where to start! This question was a struggle for me to answer! Being an artist falls into many categories for me. I love color, color theory, the visual effects of combinations of colors, the physics of color to lighting, the spectrophotometers and color data, just about any and everything about color. It all started with crayons and markers as a child. In school art classes, drawing assigned subjects or what inspires us in everyday life, now to painting figures of all sorts of shapes and size!

I took liking to art as a get away from my reality. I love it so much I went to cosmetology school to obtain my license to do hair. I always had a knack for hair, so why not do it and make money! The love for color and the science of color formulating chemicals to achieve one’s goals became on obsession! Learning the fundamentals of it was just fascinating. To this day I’ve been doing hair for over 12 years.

How does mental health awareness and support help your life and those around you?

In the year of 2017, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, adenomyosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and with all of these issues, I had fibroids large as a grapefruit.. They called it the triple threat.. and all of it had to go. 

Proceeding through the surgery and into surgical menopause at the age of 28 was a struggle. Through the numerous trial of hormone therapy, Some worked for a while and some drove me down to a very dark path. I was a walking emotionless zombie with suicidal thoughts.. 

January of 2020 was a devastating year for us. We lost our Grandfather, family issue after family issue. Then later that year a family member was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. February of 2021 we lost our Grandmother…Losing her drove me in to a deeper depression. The loss of her took a toll on all of us. Then shortly after I lost my best friend of 8 years. At the time when you needed them the most, they were gone without any explanation and was left wonder why and if you did something.. 

Going through all of these unexpected events my husband persuade me to pick up painting. He had gotten a 3D printer and was printing everything. They needed to be brought to life. So I did.. It took me out of my depression as a temporary distraction.  Soon after I was all in.. the reminder of color theory and bringing models to life was very satisfying. It be came an obsession. Picking up painting help me battle the depression. It helped me get through the toughest times in my life. The satisfaction of a completed model was a great feeling and the positive feed back I got fed the obsession. Seeing the smiles on others faces helped guide me away from the dark path. 

Being aware of your mental state and having a strong support system can help you battle through any tough challenges that you may encounter. As an artist with many obstacles in life, painting has saved mine. It also save everyone around me. They don’t have to endure my pain anymore. If I didn’t pick up painting.. I would still be in limbo or worst. 

Thank you for the opportunity to be apart of this community and organization. Id like to give back to the community, painting has brought me away from the path I was heading in. So here I present you Nkosi and son Xola. 

Thank You, Liley! For Sharing Your Story With Us.

Prince
MHCP Founder