Welcome. I’m Alice Patterson, a mixed media and oil painter based in the Missouri Ozarks.

I’ve always been an artist at heart. As a little girl, I sat beside my mother while she recorded church meetings in her ledger, filling my own “record book” with drawings because I couldn’t yet write. Art was always my language, but I chose a more “practical” path and became a nurse.

I always struggled throughout my life to love myself. Because of that, I made a lot of decisions based on my projection of what was suitable or expected of me, including marrying the wrong person at nineteen. When I met my now husband, Zerach, I was greeted with the love I deserved. It became a catalyst for a new way of thinking about myself and my life.

What did I deserve just for being alive? Love. Happiness. Fulfillment.

As I shifted my mindset, my life drastically changed. I remember a moment when my husband and I were dating. He told me he never wanted to have children with me. It broke my heart, but I made a loving decision for myself and left the relationship. It was one of the first times I made a decision that was hard but honestly loving to myself. He changed his mind, and it all ended happily ever after, to my surprise and delight.

But the point is, when I started prioritizing who I was and what I needed, the entire trajectory of my life changed. This growth and evolution of self led me to my true calling as an artist. One that, even as I started the journey and felt the doubts of passersby, I made the painful but loving decision to myself to do it anyway.

Today I am a professional artist, and I can’t believe how far I’ve come. My skill level has grown exponentially, and so has the connection to who I truly am.

I have the honor of being “Mom” to Nakoah, age twelve, and Zion, age two and a half. My role as a mother, a wife, and an artist brings me so much fulfillment and joy that I sometimes wonder if I am in a dream. My old life feels far away now, like a restless night from years past. I wake up every day to the beautiful faces of my family, the inspiration of nature around me, and a new idea for a painting brewing.

Loving yourself is where it starts. Gratitude is where it ends.