Dreams Do Come True

About 4 years ago a friend of mine took me to my first Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) expo. At the time i knew I wanted to work with wildlife but I didn't have any specific plan. After the expo, I fell in love with conservation and decided I wanted to spend the rest of my life dedicated to wildlife conservation. Since that time, I went to school and earned my bachelors in plant and wildlife ecology. I wasn't able to attend the expos during school, but I did watch all the talks online. 

The missionaries getting ready to leave for Croatia
I'm in the front bottom right corner, kneeling down.

In December 2017, I returned from serving a 10 month church mission in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. I was looking for the next adventure in my life. I remembered that while I was in Bosnia I had missed the last WCN expo. So I got out a painting project and got online to start listening to the talks I missed. Just watching the welcome talks rekindled that old fire and I got excited. I wanted to help! But what could I do? I was a broke return missionary without a job. Then, I looked down at the paintbrush in my hand. Mayber I didn't have any money to donated, but I did have my painting.

For the past several years, my grandpa and I have exhibited our art in many farmers' markets and expos. My grandpa makes rock jewelry and I paint animals on slabs of rocks. This year I wanted to paint rocks for the species that WCN supports and the donate my art to be sold at the next expo. In my vision, I could see my artwork displayed in the entry hall, beautiful and proud. I wanted 100% of the profit to be used for the conservation projects. 

The day I arrived at the WCN expo felt like a dream come true. It was on of the happiest days of my life. I brought a collection of 9 paintings and raised over $500 for WCN's conservation partners including cheetahs, lions, snow leopards, polar bears, penguins, and other small wild cats as depictd in my paintings. 

I would like to say one final thank you to WCN. Thank you for all that you do, and thank you for helping my dream come true. I believe everyone has something to offer. Jane Goodall once said, "What you do makes a difference. You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Go find your passion and make your dream come true. 

All of the paintings from my WCN 2018 fall expo collection have been sold. If you are interested in purchasing a calendar featuring these paintings please go to the Shop Painting page.