It was 2003, I was 51 and just got diagnosed with ADHD. I was devastated and scared. The only good part was finding out I wasn’t stupid, lazy or crazy. I had a brain disorder. Now what???

I had a friend at the time who also suffered with ADHD. We commiserated our lot in life and the Medes we were prescribed. She had two young kids and invited me to join them at a paint your own pottery place. I decided that I would take the opportunity to paint mermaid tiles. After all mermaids were my favorite childhood creatures.  So I sat amongst kids who would steal the colors I was using which caused me to take revenge and steal theirs. But I was so in the zone of creating the screaming chaos didn’t bother me.  I finished my first tile left it to be fired and picked up the following Saturday. I could hardly wait!

So began the smashing of my artist block. Every Saturday I came and did mermaid tiles. Then I did mermaid plates. Then mermaid bowls.  I exploded with creativity.  The small non judgmental act led to my return to the Art Students League.