Finding Beauty-Chapter 1
Chapter 1-The Healing Garden Collection
"To laugh often and love much, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others and to give of oneself." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have been a painter for many years. But I have been an artist my whole life — from collage projects with my mother's wedding dress, to the fabric of hair, and now canvas and paper with paint.
I spent 45+ years as a hairdresser, many of those in my own salon. My mission was making sure every single person who walked through my door felt important, valued, and seen. We said hello and goodbye to every single person. Every person mattered — from the girls who worked with me to our guests. That is who I am at my core.
As life will be, change is inevitable, and it wasn't always easy, with many obstacles along the way. When I started painting again, as an empty nester, I realized I needed more sunshine, so I changed my life up and began what I called The Gypsy Years — moving multiple times, traveling back and forth from Oregon to my favorite beach town, Santa Barbara, and finally landing in Carpinteria.
I began to see the world differently — like everything around me was already a painting waiting to happen. The Pacific Northwest and its seasons. The ocean. Flowers. Blue skies and sunshine. Quiet beauty had been there all along, and I was finally seeing it.
Then came times that test everything you think you know about yourself. The pandemic, loss of income, injury, exhaustion, and a completely different way of life. Suddenly life became about getting back to normal — but normal was different.
About all I could do at that point was paint, go to the beach, and ride my bike. Even painting was a struggle, and I knew I needed to try something new. At the time I was painting big fluffy clouds and ocean themes. I love flowers, but I didn't want to add them in a traditional way — something looser, more abstract, felt like it would fit into my work.
So I decided to take an online class from an artist I admired. Learning to draw flowers may seem like an easy thing, but, it wasn't. I didn't even know where to put the first mark on the paper. It was hard, and I didn't like it — it took more focus and energy than I had to give.. After a little basic instruction, something shifted and by the time I finished the class, drawing didn't feel so impossible anymore — especially once I let go of personal judgment. Then I added color, because that's my thing, and it turned into something really fun. Watercolor has its own learning curve — it flowed differently, has its own rules, and more often than not I ended up with a mess I couldn't fix. It became a learning experience I genuinely enjoyed.
From there, I translated drawing and watercolor into acrylic and canvas, and the rest is history. I was doing something productive again, and Finding Beauty was born. This painting is big — 36x36 — and it set the tone for everything that followed. That's the thing about painting: when you let it, it tells you what you need to say. Apparently I had more to say and do, because the voice didn't go away — in fact, it got louder. I knew there was more to change, and this was just the beginning.
I felt a little fearful of the things I'd been ignoring, and I had no idea how those changes would take place, Even now, writing this, my heart beats a little harder thinking of those feelings and that time.
Around this time, our family experienced a health crisis beyond imagination, and everything changed in an instant. Anyone who's gone through this knows exactly what I mean, and my heart goes out to you. Life will never be the same — the scary timeshare quieted and we are learning to navigate and accept the new reality before us. Eventually I started painting again.
Five bold blooms in deep wine, magenta, and soft rose. Their white-centered faces open and unguarded against a rich background of teal, turquoise, and soft violet. A whisper of warm orange glowing from the corner like the last light of a summer evening.The poppies on this canvas are caught in bud, in bloom, and going to seed, all at once. Every stage of my life was pulling at me in the same moment. The part of me still holding back. The part just beginning to open. And the part already done, ready for something new before the rest of me had caught up.
This isn't a painting about rest, although it looked that way from the outside. It's about the moment right before you finally listen — when the voice gets too loud to ignore anymore, and you start, even without knowing where it leads.
That's the beginning of something new. Thirteen paintings, one at a time, each one a little further into what happens when you finally stop ignoring that voice.
This painting has become a testimony about finding real beauty, not in perfect circumstances but in the middle of the ones I was living. It was the first step in reclaiming a life I'd been too tired to show up in — of healing from trauma, injury, life-threatening illness, and the overwhelming numbness that comes with it all.
I'm amazed by the truths and healing this painting revealed— a bittersweet journey. You truly do paint what you feel, even when you're not aware of it. I changed the name of this painting from Poppies to Finding Beauty, because that is exactly what it was — an inward choice, a quiet, daily act of looking up and saying: yes, I will find my way through.
The original found its forever home with a collector who loves her. But the painting lives on — because this is not a story that belongs to just one person. It belongs to all of us who have had to look a little harder to find it.
The garden is open. You are welcome here. 💜
Finding Beauty is also available as;
Fine Art Cards and Gifts
Explore the full Healing Garden Collection →
Ms. Laura Jones Paints | Creatively Beautiful