Lidia Dale-Mesaros is a self-taught artist who began creating art at 7. Initially, she kept her art private, but a spiritual awakening inspired her to share it with others. In this interview, she talks about how her childhood as the daughter of immigrant parents shaped her art, the challenges and joys of being self-taught, and how her spiritual practices guided her creative process. Lidia also shares her strong connection with her huskies, who inspire her work and help her convey healing and love through her paintings. Her work celebrates female energy, aiming to empower women and highlight their strength and beauty.

Lidia Dale-Mesaros painted purely for herself, labeling herself as a closet artist. She was self-taught, starting her artistic journey around the age of 7, using pencils, pens, crayons, charcoal, cheap watercolors, and acrylics as she progressed through those early years. Now, she concentrates on acrylics and lots of texture. After a long period and following a spiritual awakening, she showed her art to those wishing to see it. Her many years as a Mystic and Musher have greatly influenced her art. Combining cosmic and life energy, spirit guides, and the magic of life with huskies all come into play on the canvas. Conveying emotions and messages of wellness through images became her mission.

With a strong connection to huskies, who deliver daily doses of soulful energy, she captured this healing feeling through color and texture so it could be visually shared with the onlooker. Storylines through images and a deep connection with female energy emerged on the canvas. Her work is imaginative, spontaneous, and reflective, influenced by her life experiences and not through schooling, as she is a self-taught artist. Art has given her courage, and she gets braver every day by embracing mistakes on the canvas and allowing them to show that they are not mistakes but lessons in disguise and often the soul of the painting.

1. Lidia, how did your early childhood experiences shape your art and the themes you focus on today?

As a daughter of immigrant parents, raised in the UK and later moving to the USA, art was my escape from some of my family’s struggles as we emerged from the many challenges my post-WW11 refugee parents faced as they tried to create a life, a future for us. Imagination was my salvation. I enjoyed drawing animals and making stuffed toys. I know I felt spirit with me through the desire to create, to sew, make perfume from rose petals…I was always creating and inventing. At a young age, I was very sensitive to energy, which I think came across as fear.

I often create from a different dimension. It’s a spiritual dimension that I have connected with for years. I’m no longer shy to share it and allow it to come through on my canvas.

Lidia Dale-Mesaros

2. Being self-taught, you’ve worked with many different materials over the years. What are some of its challenges and rewards, and how has it influenced your style?

I painted many murals on buildings and wooden signs, too, and I think this was the hardest because of scale, texture, and using the right paints. Now I love the texture! I can embrace texture and use it to create depth, character, and the movement of energy. I also used watercolors a lot, which I thought was unforgiving at times. I feel more creative and free to express myself with acrylics.

3. Your time as a Reiki Master and mystic has influenced your art. How do these spiritual practices affect your creative process and the messages you want to share through your paintings?

I try not to have a firm plan for a painting but to allow the canvas to speak. This happens after I lay the background colors and texture. I start to see shapes and images and follow their outline or shape. I allow myself to feel my art, to feel guided, and to trust the process. Words start to come into my head as I paint, and these words define the image. I think I often create from a different dimension. It’s a spiritual dimension that I have connected with for years. I’m no longer shy about sharing and allowing it to come through on my canvas.

4. You have a strong bond with your huskies, and they inspire your work. How do they influence your art, and what do you hope people feel when they see your paintings featuring these animals?

They are my teachers. Such devotion, loyalty, and intuition. They read me as I read them. We don’t need words, we feel each others. Many thousand of miles traveled together through the wilderness, trusting in each other, moving as ‘one’. I feel their joy, their commitment, their strength, their vulnerability, their unconditional love, and their protection. This is what I try to illustrate on the canvas. Even in their afterlife, I feel them. We are all supported, and I hope my art successfully shares this comfort, this knowledge that love and comfort are there for us.

I reflect on the many roles in life that women have and my wish is for people to see strength, beauty, wisdom, vulnerability and unconditional love through the feminine images that I share.

Lidia Dale-Mesaros

5.  You mentioned a spiritual awakening that changed how you paint. Can you tell us more about that experience and how it affected your art?

I’ve been an athlete for decades; fitness is important to me. In my late 30s, once living in the US, I started building a small team of huskies. A childhood dream from seeing pictures in magazines. I had an incredible husky called Opechee. So talented, so devoted. At the same time, I started with severe early symptoms of menopause. Opechee was diagnosed with cancer. I was devastated. She was only 4 years old. I did everything I could to save her, but she died; she died in my arms. I had so much grief. We had only just started our life together. Not long after, I was walking in our woods with my grief and tears, and I took a bad fall. At that time, there was no knowledge about the effects of low estrogen on tendons, and as an athlete, this condition hit me hard along with the fall. I could not walk for weeks, so much pain…. so many tears for Opechee. But one day I felt light, I had a feeling, still not walking, still grieving… but something had shifted. I felt the need to start painting. It had been a few years, though. I started to paint, and the images flowed. I began to walk and then run… I was coming back to myself, but I felt different. At this time, an amazing Native American grandmother came into my life and became a mentor and a blessing. It was a spiritual opening that came through such a difficult time. That’s when I felt my calling as an Empath and as an artist.

6. Your art is known for its strong female energy and imaginative, reflective nature. How do you bring these elements into your work, and what do you hope people take away from your art?

I was bullied and teased in school for being from immigrant parents. I had always been sensitive as a child, but later in life, I was often told that I was too sensitive. But with age, I realized that sensitivity is a gift, enabling me to be an Empath and a Reiki Master. Feminine energies are needed in this world and must be celebrated, not suppressed. Many women suffer before they evolve. I reflect on the many roles in life that women have and wish for people to see strength, beauty, wisdom, vulnerability, and unconditional love through the feminine images that I share. For women to feel supported and empowered like the phoenix rising out of the ashes.

Lidia Dale-Mesaros’s story shows the power of self-discovery and spiritual growth. Through her art, she finds healing and aims to inspire and empower others. Her work, rich in texture and emotion, captures her life experiences and deep connections with her huskies and spiritual guides. This interview gives a heartfelt look into the life of an artist who turns her sensitivity into a creative strength. To learn more about Lidia, click the following links to visit her profile.