Thoughtful conversations with the people of Maine

I think in my own work now, it's made me more appreciative of people, their struggles, understanding the people who are less affluent, who can't afford their medications or can't afford to get healthcare, who can't afford an extra hotel room a night in the hotel because they'd spent their entire budget for healthcare coming to see me, and we need to finish their evaluation in two days instead of four days. I think it's provided a sensitivity and a compassion that I wouldn't have had if I'd grown up in a urban area, the child of affluent individuals.

We hold a lot of tension in our jaws and our mouth, and there's emotional reasons for that. Releasing that is opening up a whole world for us, and it's not only uplifting those muscles, it's uplifting our mood. It's actually putting that feeling of lightness back into the face.

I think one of the things that's made me at least successful or a different artist is that I bring the Southwest palette to a Maine landscape. The combination is, I think, works very well for me.