You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you a friend of mine and a wonderful artist. Karen Levangie has got talent and she is using her talent and her energy to help benefit a mental health charity during mental health awareness week. Karen find inspiration from her life and her artwork shows her struggles and triumphs.

One piece that struck me as I was looking at her portfolio was a piece called, “Family/Happy Place”. Karen describes it like this:
“Viewed vertically, it represents anger i was feeling towards my family at that given moment. when i turned it horizontally, it reminded me of a happy place, like an underwater scene. I realized that family actually can be both, a source of anger and a place to find happiness.”

Isn’t that so indicative of life isn’t it. Life is quite often all about perception. We find happiness and sadness and a host of other emotions all around us. It’s having the courage to work through all of those feelings and to create such works of beauty at the other end. I admire Karen for sharing her thoughts and feelings with us on canvas and letting the depth and breath of her being come to life and create a world all unto itself; telling a story, capturing a moment, finding peace where there is chaos. Keep creating and expressing yourself through your artwork because it is truly amazing.

Now let’s have Karen tell you a little bit about herself.

An estimated 26.2 percent of the population ages 18 and older – about one in four adults – suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in any given year. However, stigma surrounding mental illness is a major barrier that prevents people from seeking the mental health treatment that they need. Programs during Mental Illness Awareness Week are designed to create community awareness and discussion in an effort to put an end to stigma and advocate for treatment and recovery.