Amy Dawn Kotel

I think I have made the best of what has truly been a hard inward and outward time for myself and the world. I live with my wonderful husband and my indigo daughter. Even though we do not wear our masks at home, it often feels like there isn't any air to breathe. During this time I have had to remind myself over and over again, it's not easy raising a strong woman. Without my daughter's normal routine, my sweet child fell apart. I made every effort to keep her learning and growing educationally, but over times she backslide into negative behavior and depression. She felt such loss about not being at school, not being with her peers and her normal routines. It was honestly heartbreaking for me and overwhelming.

One of my only solaces during this was to my colored pencil drawings. I would go back and forth between drawing creepy upsetting work and then images of how I wanted to feel and be. I had to clear the deep sorrow, frustration and anxiety I had about the state of the world, the overwhelm I was feeling from my own home, through odd distorted artworks. After I released this anxiety in my drawings, I could then draw my vision of how I wanted to feel. Through what I drew I could visualize gentle relaxation, beauty, taking a deep breathe and connecting to all the forces of good. The result has been a prolific amount of creating, that many have seemed to appreciate and relate to.

Amy Dawn Kotel is based in Florence, MA

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