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I am a self-taught, outsider artist -- dedicated to honoring nature, celebrating diversity, and advocating for social justice through my creative work. In what seems like a previous life, I spent twelve years as an attorney in North Carolina, focusing my law practice on public service and criminal defense for those unable to afford legal representation. In my late thirties, I made the bold decision to resign from law and pursue my dreams, which led me to plant a field of lavender and start creating watercolor art. For eight years, I farmed lavender on a large scale, initially at Old Field Lavender Farm and later at Spiral Mountain Farm. For the past five years, I have lived most of the year in a teardrop camper named 'One Love.' During winter, I embrace a nomadic lifestyle to warmer climes accompanied by my loyal sidekick of almost fourteen years -- Bella, a Jack Russell terrier mix. Earlier this year (2026), I decided to resign from the lavender farm project to focus full-time on my watercolor art, and I'm enjoying every moment.
My name is Puma Love, and I am an HIV-positive, queer artist. I've experienced firsthand how a diagnosis, a label, or an identity gets treated as the whole story instead of one part of a full life— even by the best among us. I paint queer joy, queer resilience, and queer existence, including life with HIV, as a fact of a life still being fully lived.
For twelve years, I practiced law in North Carolina, and I focused my law practice on public service and criminal defense for those unable to afford legal representation. This work taught me how often the system reduces a person to a single fact about them — not unlike a diagnosis. Painting is, in some ways, a continuation of my legal work. At least, the heart of it is the same: I paint protest art for racial justice, climate action, and LGBTQ rights, because none of us are free until all of us are free.
As a seventh-generation Appalachian reared on a dairy farm, I also find nostalgic inspiration in farm animals and nature scenes, and part of my heart still lives in the Caribbean, where I spent a year — oceanic imagery finds its way into my work often. My work is about whimsy, because life is too short, and it carries a surrealistic edge.
In 2019, my farmhouse burned down, and I've been a nomad ever since — most of those years spent living in a teardrop camper, traveling from West Virginia to Florida and many places in between. I've recently parked my teardrop in Carrboro, NC, and I plan to stay for the foreseeable future.
I paint in watercolor, though not the loose, flowy style people often expect — my work is controlled and detailed, with bold, deliberate lines. Even the blooms have intention. Watercolor suits my nomadic life: it travels light and without mess. I'm self-taught, so my technique comes from thousands of hours with brush and paper — on Arches 140lb, historically wherever I could find a flat surface. Creating is a meditative practice for me — it quiets my mind, and it's been integral to my healing from trauma.