Becoming an Artist - The move to Todos Santos, Baja California Sur

Becoming an Artist

I would not have predicted this future for myself

but I could have believed it.

I grew up around incredibly strong women and therefore, I have a belief system of thinking anything is possible and why not reach for the stars?  

It was 2019 and I was kiteboarding in what was going to be the last competition of my professional career when I re-injured myself. Again. It had been a brutal season of injury and rehab in between competitions, as the muscle on top of my ankle kept tearing from the impact over and over of landing tricks in the kite park.

I knew it was my body asking me to take a step back from kiteboarding professionally on the World Tour and rest, at least for a minute.

And honestly, my mind needed it too. I was burnt out and tired of suitcase life for the ninth year in a row. So I made a plan to head south to a place I had discovered a year prior during one of my rehab escapes.

It was called Todos Santos.

With surf spots all over the place, I thought it would be a good place to begin my next chapter even though I had zero idea what that would be.

It was the end of 2019, I didn’t speak more than 2 words of Spanish and I vaguely knew a few people in town before Covid took over.

I found myself housesitting a wonderful little nook in downtown Todos Santos that happened to be a fully decked-out art studio, complete with a ceramics area and kiln.

The space still hums with energy today and belongs to a very successful artist, Donna Billick. She showed me what a strong artist mindset looked like—pushing comfort zones and understanding what’s possible at the highest levels of the art world.

It was in that studio, when the world stood still, that I finally looked away from the ocean and noticed a small watercolor set that belonged to my partner at the time. I had used the whole palette and all of the paper when I realized how much I loved painting.

I spent more and more time at the table, painting everything I could imagine—palm trees, flowers, people, waves… you name it. Some good, a lot bad.

Days began to blur together. I would be 8 hours deep into painting before remembering to eat or step outside. Safe to say, I was fully addicted—for a few reasons.

It gave me a way to be with water in a different, more meditative way, especially as the beaches were closed. It also gave me somewhere to channel my focus.

After years as a professional athlete, I still needed that flow state and painting gave it to me without depending on weather. I could paint all night and through a storm if I wanted to, and there still is an unspoken freedom in this.

And then I realized—there is something inherently freeing about being an artist in general.  You can dress how you want and live how you want because it all becomes part of ‘the process’. And with enough conviction, the world believes it too.

So that’s what I did. I leaned in. I kept discovering my process as the years unfolded.

During that time, I was also building a house by hand, which meant I didn’t have much energy to paint for nearly two years. Then I started a ceramics company with a dear friend, and again, painting took a back seat. There wasn’t the space—physically or creatively—to pursue the kind of work I felt called to make.

Eventually, in January 2025, I made the decision to clear the space and step fully into being a watercolor artist. In July I began experimenting with larger-scale paintings, curious to see where it could take me and in November I opened my gallery.

And here we are—still growing, still expanding—each piece telling a little more of my story. 

1.5 years, 2 art brands, 2 online stores, a gallery, and online classes launching this month :)

Beyond grateful for this journey! Thank you to the community who has helped and nourished these transitions.

Weekly mantras:

We are more capable than we give ourselves credit for!

There are less rules than we think!