Brushstrokes of Light:

Exploring the Journey of Fine Art Oil Painting with Julie Brayton

You may or may not know by now I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October/ November.

I have been spoiled my whole life with nearly perfect health.

Health insurance was a difficult and expensive justification since I was never sick.

I may have caught this earlier had I had more regular pap smears, ugh. I hate it all but it is what it is.

So here I am, with a tumor and lymph nodes putting me at stage three. As of now it’s pretty contained so the likelihood of spread is probably low. 

I am a bit of a hopeless optimistic living the life of an artist has taught me that.

Even though I can have moments of feeling down, I don’t stay there long. I immediately turn to what my next move will be. I’ve also noticed from experience that things tend to work out so there’s no point in worrying about the unknown. 

My daughters put together a gofundme and I am overwhelmed by the show of support. 

It’s crazy how prior to all this I felt like I had more than I can handle managing an art business and now I’m forced to manage more.

The side effects of chemo and radiation aren’t fun. I hate having to take this poison into my system but the holistic approach proved to be too hard and expensive and I knew I couldn’t keep up with it once the shows started so I decided to just zap it and be done. I still implement holistic supplements, clean whole food, (nothing processed, no sugar) and juicing to help feed my body the nutrients to fight this.

After the second treatment my hair started to fall out. I asked my hairdresser cousin to shave my head. The hair follicles were hurting and the hair was going to fall out anyway. My kids made the transition from hair to no hair easy by buying me a very nice wig. I’ve become more comfortable in scarves too. I didn’t want to scream CANCER by wearing a scarf but I’ve been told that thought didn’t come to mind. 

Due to my white blood count being low one week I had to skip a  week of chemo. Within that week  I was almost back to normal. So I have hope of a quick recovery. That said, even though as of writing this I don’t feel too bad, I know it’s not going to stay like this. July and August are my biggest money making months. Most of July and some into August I will be doing both radiation and chemo. A sure sucker punch! I’m trying to get as much work done now while I feel well enough. 

In the meantime, I’m having to get creative. Ultimately, I would like to move away from outdoor shows to more online sales anyway so now is as godd a time as any to get it going. 

I also want to join Plein Air groups and start teaching online more. I would keep around 5 outdoor shows.

One of those online ways is Etsy.

I have been working feverishly on my Etsy shop. I have torn down and rebuilt two of my shops many times. It’s a tough platform but I’m determined to harness it. I am creating products right now that I won’t make a profit but hopefully will draw people in to buy which helps rank my shop in the algorithm. I use print companies to make the products I put my artwork on. They then make and ship the product directly to the customer.

The other online venture is my “How To Paint” courses and tutorials.

These tutorials and courses are very time consuming to build but I have done a lot of work in the past few years in addition I have gotten great feedback from my students so my online learning will be streamlined and community based. It’s a great way to meet people from all over. I have taken many online courses and have made friends with people from all over the world.

My next show is June 21&22 in Narragansett RI

If you’re around I would love to see you.

I will keep you posted on new work I am creating too.

Remember to add me to your contacts as emails can end up in spam or promotions and easily missed.

Feel free to respond to this email. I would love to hear from you

Talk Soon!

Above Are New Pieces. Mostly created this year. I have more coming! Remember as a VIP subscriber to my email you’re prices are lower. Reach out if you have an interest in something.

My goal or mission is to bring reminders and connection to the importance each individual has through the connection to nature. How we all can honor the essence of who we have always been meant to be. Creativity, whether through collecting art or creating it, is a healing force that allows us to embrace, tell and own our stories in a transformative and ultimately joyful way.