Art Chowder July | August, Issue 22 | Page 23

O ne would never know she wasn’t raised on a ranch. “Throughout my childhood, I rode every chance I could snag a ride on someone else’s horse. The mean ones. The bad. The big. Little. I fell off constantly, and picked myself up, watching those four-legged devils run away from me, and scheming how I’d succeed in clambering back onto their backs again.” Rush is no stranger to pulling herself up and working hard to achieve her goals. Born the eldest daughter in a Midwest family, Rush struggled from trauma during her early years. She caught herself, as an adult, repeating the dysfunctional behavior patterns modeled for her as a child. Choosing to return to the source of her wounds, in 1992 she began healing through painting. Using a yellow legal notepad next to the drafting table, words flowed to accompany the works of art and became part of her healing journey. “The combination of images and words triggers both sides of the human brain to fire simultaneously. The result is a whole-brained response, one that accesses unlimited, intuitive healing.” The 17th painting in the collection was completed in 1998. The paint was still wet when she first displayed the entire collection with texts next to them. The exhibit was for the grand opening of a housing development. Currently, the collection is available for viewing in the eBook Art of the Journey: The Healing of a Lifetime. The art in this collection are not in Rush’s usual style of beauty and light; however, halfway through there is a shift to joy and hope as the inner healing is revealed. July | August 2019 23