Unbridled

30" x 24" | Oil on canvas

Freedom isn't only about where you can go. It's about who you are free to become.

Unbridled is about protecting the curiosity, imagination, and sense of possibility that allow us to choose our own direction.

Artwork Story

Wild horses survive in a harsh landscape. They are strong, independent, and free. When I painted these horses running across the open Arizona desert, I kept thinking about that freedom and how easily we can lose our own.

Children begin with an enormous sense of possibility. They wonder. They invent. They ask questions. They haven't yet decided what is realistic or who they're supposed to become.

As a mother and a teacher, I see how quickly that space can disappear. Technology fills the quiet moments where imagination once wandered, while growing up brings expectations about what we should do and who we should be.

Maybe that's why these horses feel like they're running for something rather than from something.

They're protecting the open space ahead of them.

I don't want to decide what that freedom means for everyone who sees this painting. But I know what I hope children carry with them as they grow:

The freedom to decide who they want to become.