Moving to the United States, she lived throughout Europe where she taught art to children and once at a retirement home. Today, you could find her painting on the back of her pickup truck.

She teaches her students to discover themselves and “find their own balance.”

Young Marie Serda enjoyed getting lost in the forests surrounding her childhood home in Sarraziet, France. She reminisces about the medieval castle that remained through the centuries so close to home.

“I grew up in a very magic space,” she said. “It was also a little bit dangerous.”

Her parents would sit her down with paper and colors to keep her from getting lost and hurting herself. Like the castle, her curious spirit and love for color has remained, Serda now 57, and majoring in art, has been a life-long painter.

“The Blue Bird” is Serda’s first painting at the Euphrat Museum. It includes a triplet of paintings that accompany a larger painting and a booklet filled with anecdotes and life lessons from Serda herself. All four paintings revolve around a girl.

Serda said this piece is about broken childhoods and what’s necessary to continue after devastation. By using different styles throughout her painting, she hopes to reach a wider audience with her message.

She understands the struggles children go through, and encourages everyone to be resilient.

Serda says her goal with her art is to capture the energy she feels from a person or object and its surroundings. As she searched for the right word to use in her paper of translations she said she likes to go “deep in the flesh of things.”

When her art is out in the world, Serda says she feels relaxed as her work is completed.

“In fact, it’s not mine anymore. It’s your work now. It’s a work for the public.”