Healing Scarves:  high fashion modeling, psychology, and prayer.

Human psychology, the fascinating power of the unconscious mind, and the meaning of life have  captured my attention  most all of my life.  My mother told me I was a psychologist since age 2 and even early years in life I had an inclination for observing the healing effect of listening so that others are heard and understood. 

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My earliest memory was in first grade at age 6, when I helped a classmate get over her shyness in class. I like to think of her as my first client. 

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After high school I went to Paris to study dance. It was here in the fashion capital of the world where I stumbled into the fashion industry, and began my whirlwind career as an international model. 

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My work-related travels took me to different countries and provided a perfect environment to read and reflect on human philosophy, spiritual practices and at the same time, touching, seeing and feeling beautiful attire and accessories. 

I was continually donning lovely haute couture and pret-a-porter designs modeling for illustrious houses of fashion such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Hermes, Missoni, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as designers such as Georgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier,  Kansai Yamato, Issey Miyake, Oscar de la Renta, and Donna Karan.  

Modeling involves a lot of traveling alone, which gave me lots of quiet time to think, reflect and study what I eventually called ‘the practice of presence’.

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I learned ‘mindfulness’ skills to help me deal with the chaos of a constantly changing fashion industry. Being more an introvert, I was able to go deep within while staying awake and highly alert. When alone, I read snippets and books on states of being from philosophers such as Gurdjieff, Whitman, William James, Plato,  I Ching, Bagavatam, and most importantly to my Christian roots, faith and upbringing, the sacred scriptures of the Holy Bible. 

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I almost always wore a scarf to keep me warm and feel protected while traveling, and provide color to my otherwise monochromatic travel clothes.  I think I wore my Missoni scarf all over the world while gaining so many wonderful memories of meeting talented and diverse people over my modeling career.

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My painting is inspired by God and is called prayer painting or  SOZO painting.   

What does SOZO mean? 

SOZO means to be Saved, Healed and Delivered.  SOZO is mentioned over 100 times in scriptures.

This occurred just before the pandemic hit the USA, when I needed to quickly reinvent myself into more of who I really am - again. 

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Because my coaching, training and consulting practice in applied psychology with leaders who have complex problems, helping their strengths come to bear in situations is priority. Painting (without a plan) as a spontaneous and creative past time has helped me renew myself and 'process/integrate' client impact on me more quickly.  This helps me turn the burden over, put warfare on canvas, pray over the person and situation and let Holy Spirit be in charge. 

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I did not consciously think about picking up a brush to paint, but God must have  planned for me to do it and knew that way back at my birth and during my modeling career.  

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I see hidden within the paintings  scenes I’ve witnessed over my lifetime:  Supernatural angels, Holy crosses as weapons in spiritual battles,  Trees of Life blossoming and bearing fruit, whispering light feathers falling, sea shore lapping waves, ethereal misty clouds, and special encounters between people over the world.  Some paintings have women of diverse cultures wearing scarves over their head.

Eventually the desire to put these onto fabric and wear them, (and dance and worship with them too) occurred.   

And then, Healing Scarves was born.  

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