LEXINGTON, Ky. — Yolantha Harrison-Pace travels every week to Lexington to sell her artwork, raising money for children and families who may live in poverty in other countries.

Harrison-Pace has taken the pandemic as an opportunity for a pandemic reset. She's now creating artwork she never knew she was capable of doing. 

Harrison-Pace finishes up a painting of a horse. (Spectrum News 1/Crystal Sicard)

“I did not know that I could draw an owl or cow or a cat and people would recognize it as them being those things. So I learned a lot about myself in many, many ways because of the pandemic,” Harrison-Pace said.

For the last 22 years, she's been traveling across the world – from Haiti to India and Jamaica – helping those in need.

“I'm a trench woman, I wipe dirty noses. I listened to people who have never been listened to before. I think I'm fed and so that's how I figured out, that's what I do in life,” Harrison-Pace said.

Because of the pandemic, this last year Harrison-Pace has been unable to travel and serve in person in these places. That’s when her artwork started to become her passion.

“No matter how poor women are around the world, they love bright colors. So these are the colors I saw when I was working in India, and these are some of the colors I saw in Haiti," she said. "And this, that's what these are. And I attribute to women from around the world that I see the fact that we love bright colors and textures, no matter how much money we do or don't make."

Harrison-Pace takes a portion of her sales and sends them to organizations helping those on-site, and she looks forward to getting her hands dirty again once it’s safe to do so. 

“True service means you're gonna have to do something, and it's not gonna always be pretty. You're gonna have to get your hands dirty. It means you're going to get a little snot on. You're gonna get some dirt and mud on. You're going to be sneezed on and off down at the same time, you can be loved on too,” Harrison-Pace said.