The Many Raises of Me: Artist, Mother, Trapper, Fashion Designer and Therapist.

There are days when I am raised by my paintbrush. When the colour bleeds just right and something unspoken finds shape on canvas.

On these days, I’m the artist — unfiltered, fluid, creating from instinct and memory, and dreams and visions.

The land is loud through my work. When I work with fur, beaver teeth, beads, bark and hides — they tell their own story. I’m just the vessel. Oh man am I grateful for this journey!

Then there are mornings when I’m raised by the soft weight of motherhood. When my son's laughter — or their needs — eclipse all else. These moments root me in presence and love.

It is wild and rhythmic and tender. It humbles me with its unpredictability, its fierce love, its quiet teachings.

And then, I return to the bush. I become the trapper, the gatherer, the student of the land. Raised by wind flowing and swaying of the trees, the pull of the line, and the knowing hands of my ancestors. Crafting with what nature gifts me —a practice older than I am, steeped in ceremony and survival.

Each modality holds its own medicine. Each role raises me in different ways. Sometimes gently, sometimes with a sharp edge.

But there are also days —and I honor these too —when I don’t want to be any of it.

Not the artist, Not the therapist, Not the trapper. Not the fashion designer.

I just want to be. To sit quietly in the bush or my home, to let the world move without needing me to do a thing. And in that stillness, I am reminded that I’m not just what I do. I’m not the sum of my titles or talents. I’m spirit first —a human learning to flow.

Gratitude lives in all of this: The mess, the moments of clarity, the tiredness, the breakthroughs. I’ve been raised by the bush but— again and again — by each path I walk.

I’m learning to let life lead me gently, to trust the rhythm even when it shifts. to carry my bundle with care, and to rest when I need to put it down. I've been so very lucky with all my endeavours, I just don't know if I can ever pay back these gifts from the creator.