The most common questions everyone keeps asking me is, “What do you do all day since you’re not working?” My answer is a lot! I will preface my ensuing description/rant by stating that my amazing husband in no way expects me to or asks me to do any of the following. He often reminds me that I should take a break from all the domestic stuff, and just stop doing things all the time.
So first off, there are the daily domestic tasks (i.e., cleaning, cooking, laundry, errands, etc), which neither Brian nor I did much of while living in NYC. It was more cost effective to send our laundry out (yes, it has spoiled me) and order food in (which meant no grocery shopping or cooking). As for cleaning, it was usually a total of one hour, once a week to clean our shoebox-sized studio apartment. Now that we’re living in a palace, by comparison, it’s a lot of work! I’m not even going back to the whole “hanging clothes outside to dry, then bringing them back in, hanging them on a rack when it randomly rains, and finally putting them in the dryer for the last few minutes to get them actually dry” fiasco. Let’s just say, laundry is a longer process over here in New Zed. As for cooking, I’ve enjoyed experimenting and am learning quite a bit about various recipes, ingredients, and timing. Brian has been a very willing and appreciative participant in eating my experiments. Strangely enough, he’s very creative in the kitchen, and I’m the one who follows a recipe to the T. Go figure!
Next there’s the whole job thing. Art Therapy is a much more new profession in New Zealand than in the states, and no one seems to work under the title of Art Therapist. As small as the profession seems within America, it’s far smaller here. In New Zealand, Art Therapy is much more holistic in nature than it generally is in the states. For example, while art therapists here find many assessments (i.e., the Draw a Person Picking an Apple From a Tree thingy, if you don’t know what I’m talking about no worries) from the US interesting, they would never utilize assessments in their practice. The culture and perspective on mental health within the general population here seems much more Eastern in philosophy than the states. The focus is much more “art as therapy”, rather than “art psychotherapy.”
That said, after meeting with the directors of the graduate Art Therapy program in Auckland, it seems I’m most likely to put together a number of different part time jobs. Basically I’ll be contracting myself out to other organizations for various groups, classes, or events. I’ve been working on creating a brochure to articulate what kinds of seminars, workshops, and classes I can teach, as well as what populations I work with.
I have been seriously speaking with a group practice in Auckland, and am meeting with them at the end of the week to discuss my joining their practice. I’d be doing individual sessions with kids and teens dealing with issues of anxiety and/or anger. I’d also be working with kids and teens with Aspergers Syndrome (a high functioning form of Autism). So it’s an interesting option, and we’ll see what happens.
I’m also in the early stages of creating my own business. I developed a technique when I worked at Burke School in Fairfax Virginia, where I turned any photograph into a paint-by-number portrait that anyone, regardless of artistic ability or training, can complete with incredible results. I utilized this technique as a form of empowerment and to build self-esteem with patients at the children’s hospital I worked at, as well as with patient’s parents.
*Created by Regina Busmire, a patient's mom during his prolonged hospitalization. It was her first time painting! This was created on a large 24" x 36" canvas board. There's actually a picture of the painting in progress on Fox News at
I did a poster-sized portrait in the same style for my dad’s 60th birthday party, and an 8” X 10” painting of my niece Hayley when she was a little baby (now she’s a big girl). Many of my friends at work saw the results, and asked me to show them how to do it. One colleague made one of her son, another as a gift for a wedding, one for her brother’s Bar Mitzvah, etc. They all loved it and encouraged me to turn it into a business. I wasn’t interested until now.
Mr. Lee, aka my dad 22" x 28"
Ms. Hayley 8" x 10"
So the idea is that anyone could just email me a digital picture that they want to turn into a painted portrait. This would be a unique, personal, meaningful gift for birthdays, anniversaries, important life events, births, etc. There would be two options:
1. I could draw it out for them, and mail it back to them with everything they needed to complete it themselves (i.e., the mixed paints, brushes, complete instructions, etc.)
2. I can just paint the whole thing for them and mail it to them
So it’s exciting and a lot of work! Outside of that, I continue to look, meet with, and apply to various organizations and positions that might fit my experiences, education, and interests. Add going to the gym to the list, and you can all see that, outside of weekends, I don’t have much free time.
I know I've fallen a bit behind on my posts, so I'll try to get posts about the past two amazing weekend adventures out this week. Thank you to everyone for all of the comments and feedback!
*posted with full permission and authorization from respective families.
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