Welcome!  My name is Mandi J. Smith and I am an abstract artist that primarily works with acrylics. 

 

I got into painting as a means to heal significant heartbreak and loss in my life, and to deal with anxiety in a healthy way. Having worked previously in many other creative fields (columnist/journalist, baker, actor, photographer),  I am a naturally passionate person.  I am always wanting to express myself with vibrancy, no matter the emotion.

 

How I approach art is also how I approach life. My process is a big, fat metaphor for how I live. We each are a creation asking 'Is this the story I want to tell? Does this still resonate for me or do I continue to move forward and change it up?' It requires bravery and spirit, the willingness to take risks.  It also requires forgiveness and grace when you look back and think, "Shit, I shouldn't have painted over that."  Life... paintings... it's all a big glorious, gorgeous mess.  I do my best to be curious about it all.    

​

Ultimately, for me, this is an intimate lesson in surrender, where releasing the need to control can spark a fire of creative evolution and acceptance. It's an art form you really have to live into and the wildness in me loves that. Nothing in the process is wasted.  It's all growth. It's the beauty of humanity in an artistic form and that really excites me!