Deile GL Smith - I Dissent [Colored Pencil, Watercolor and Gouache & Iron Reactive Paint]

Type of Media
Drawing/Painting/Printmaking

Artist Statement
Art gives me an outlet to express myself  when words fail me. It helps me to focus and stay grounded when I am feeling anxious or conflicted. Regardless of what is going on in my life, I am able to both lose myself and find my true self while creating. Everything else washes away. Drawing, painting or creating something with my hands is meditative and connects me to my soul. I have several mediums I work in including clay, mixed media, drawing, painting and printmaking.

Bio
I’m a fifty-two year old wife, mother and art enthusiast living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was diagnosed with an ACTH producing tumor in August of 2017. I have had two surgeries and Proton Beam Radiation at MGH in Boston and am currently waiting to see if this last attempt at an eviction of this I welcomed guest has in fact worked. While I have always had an interest in creativity of all kinds, the last three years and my journey with this tumor has had me turning to art as a place to express myself visually and work through emotions I’m not always able to express with words. The content of my work doesn’t necessarily reflect what I’m feeling emotionally, it is through those emotions I am able to create and work through them. With chronic illness there are good and bad days but it’s never a bad day with a pencil or brush in hand.