7 months ago I was a 51 year old housewife, British, semi-retired for 5 years in Madeira, Portugal. Our entire family moved out here from England, Grandparents included.

Sadly my father died on December 30th, but within about two weeks of his death something miraculous happened – I discovered I had been given a gift. I could paint portraits, to perfection… having never done this before in my life!! Everyone on my father’s side of the family were artists, but up until this point I had never realised that the gift had been passed onto me.

I decided that there must be a reason I was blessed with this talent, and that it would be wasteful not to cultivate it, and to put it to good use. Therefore, I decided I would paint for charity, and give something back to the world.

I have set up my own charity on the island of Madeira called ‘The Madeiran Sunshine Trust,’ and although its slow going (due to Portuguese Laws), the right contacts have just come into my life to help me, and it is all because of ‘The Secret’.

In April I was given ‘The Secret’ to read, and within a few days, through the power of positive thinking and the purest belief that I would succeed, someone came into my life whom I had never met before, who suggested that I set up business pages on the social networking utilities ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, and ‘My Space’. So I set up all three, as well as my own website. Proceeding rapidly with mass networking I started painting anyone who would agree. My incredible enthusiasm about my project became infectious, and once I had painted one person, I found myself inundated with requests for paintings. I started on a small scale, with some models and lesser known people, but by June I had painted Jazz singer Vania Fernandes, model and jewellry designer Cory Bernstein, and international model Hofit Golan. I was absolutely amazed and thrilled at the positive response I was receiving from these people – they adore the paintings, and are more than happy to sign the paintings with a view to raise money for good causes.

As well as painting on a daily basis, I was also constantly watching motivational videos, reading parts of The Secret, and asking for the right things to enter my life in order for this project to succeed… and the Universe answered. For now, one month on, I have been granted permission to paint Pink Floyd, Sheila Bonnick (Boney M), Went Miller, and Jennifer Love Hewitt amongst others.
I have already been in contact with Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Tony Carreira’s management to discuss publicity of their paintings, their chosen charities, etc., and have been asked to donate some of my paintings to the Tawn Mastrey Foundation in awareness of Hepatitis C for a silent Auction in the Hollywood Hills on August 18th. This is an unbelievable opportunity, and a chance to do something amazing for a charity.

I can scarcely believe how much this project has cascaded in such a short time, but here I am today, 7 months after just being a housewife, looking for flights to LA for the event of a lifetime. It is nothing short of miraculous!
Within a few short months this small fish in a large pond is getting very well known.

The next 200 yards is unfolding daily… and I am so grateful for all that is being given to me on my fantastic new journey.