My creative journey and who I am

Hi there! 

Welcome to my first blog post!

This is a place where you will find inspiration, tutorials, my art process and a deep look at who I truly am. 

I thought the best way to start my blogging journey would be to introduce myself and let you know how I reached where I am today. 

First let me tell you the main characters that make up my life.

The love of my life and best friend, Youssef. aka Ross Geller from friends.

My first baby, Karim. The most kind hearted sweet and cheeky boy.

My second baby, Leo. The comedian who eats everything and dances all the time. 

My other two babies Pepe and Zuma, dachshunds with a little bit too much energy.

Let’s start right from the beginning because this stuff matters! 

My dad is Italian but was raised in Nigeria for 20 years. My mother is half Dutch but lived in Italy, to be specific from the region of Veneto. Both my brother and I were born in Italy but moved to Ghana with my family when I was 5 months old. I have lived in Ghana since then. And for those unfortunate people that don’t know, Ghana is in the beautiful continent of Africa.

I loved creating art my entire childhood. It wasn’t so hard to figure out how passionate I was because my room in high school was filled with canvases on each wall. Now the questionable part is my interior design skills. WHO THE HELL PAINTS EVERY WALL IN THEIR ROOM A DIFFERENT SHADE OF PINK? More importantly why did my parents let me do that? 

I graduated high school and went straight to university at the Savannah College of Art and Design ( SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia in 2013. I was so sure I wanted to be an interior designer but after my first class I realised how much math was required. 

Just to be clear I can do simple math (with a calculator) but for the most part I suck!

Anyways on to summer 2014, where I got pregnant (by the holy spirit: youssef’s middle name) and thought everything was falling apart. I was 19 years old, in university and I had been dating Youssef for just over 1 year. And yet things were working out just as I had always wanted (except in a different order). 

Don’t get me wrong, I was very scared for my future. I had to make the biggest decision of my life, without really knowing the difficulty of raising a child. We decided to keep the baby and continue to live our lives together. I lost a lot of friends, and felt very alone at times. What kept me going was university. Luckily I had the chance to continue my BFA online in graphic design (my new major) and 4 years later (2018), with a 3 year old by my side, I graduated WITH HONOURS!

It wasn’t that smooth and simple though. You know that saying that goes “life is a rollercoaster ride?” well right when I thought I was at the top, I realised I was heading down a very deep fall and it seemed impossible to see the way out. 

In October 2017 Karim was diagnosed with focal epilepsy. There is nothing more scarring and heart breaking than to see your child in the hospital, having blood samples and taking medication daily. We are so fortunate he is healthy and doing well, but those months were truly the hardest, and most testing I have ever gone through. Thankfully everything is under control and we take it day by day, knowing we still have a long way to go. 

Throughout this weird rollercoaster, I have been creating art all along and in November 2019 I decided to share my art with the world. I had just given birth to my baby boy Leo and as tough as it is to find time to create, here I am doing it EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

Well all of that worked out pretty well because I have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FAMILY I could have ever wanted. I also get to do what I love every single day and that feels extremely rewarding. 

After the birth of my second son, I was drawn into the world of illustration. After a couple of months at it, I realised my growing passion for it. Luckily I was able to incorporate that pretty easily into what I do. 

I create illustrations, paintings and graphics that can be purchased here on my website. All my art focuses on nature, and education, as these are the two most important things to me. A percentage of my art sales goes to organisations that support the environment. For every collection I launch, I pick new organisations to donate to. Know that by purchasing from me, not only are you helping out a small business, you are also helping protect the environment. 

I hope you got to learn something new about me! I am grateful you took some time to get to know me better. Hopefully one day I will have the honour of having one of my art pieces in your beautiful space. 

I would be so happy to get to know you as well, so leave me a comment below and tell me something cool about yourself!