Alexa Meade’s life has taken a drastic turn from where she thought she would be.

Ten years ago she was finishing her political science degree at Vassar College. She had four years of interning on Capitol Hill and six campaigns under her belt with a clear vision of what her future in government would be.

This all radically changed when she took an elective art course in her last semester of schooling. It was this class that expanded her dreams far beyond a stationary desk in Washington, DC.

The class was given a project where she was required to create a sculpture mirroring the idea of landscape, without creating a literal landscape. For her political, straightforward personality, this was a foreign language. But it was in this course, and through this project, that she unlocked her love for art in her discovery of the beauty and mystery concealed within a shadow—the way light was absent and the highlights that contrasted this.

For Meade, painting on canvas was never her key interest, but rather, taking 3D objects, such as grapefruits or human beings, and turning them into 2D paintings. Once her love of painting and art was ignited, there was no turning back. She finished her degree, and moved back in with her parents, where she taught herself how to paint and became determined to make a career out of it.

Meade has been painting full time since 2009 and since then, she has honed in her skills, creating a whole new medium. Through live painting people in their natural surroundings, she manipulates the image into a 2D oil painting.

The beauty of her style of painting is that she paints on top of things that exist in reality, ultimately changing the perspective of the person viewing the scene or painting.

Since making a full time go of it, Meade has had several collaborative projects, such as her milk pool shoots with Sheila Vand, has exhibited her work in museums around the world, and has done projects for companies such as Sony, Instagram, MINI Cooper, and others.

Most recently, Meade has worked with pop star Ariana Grande on album cover and video art, which has received an incredible amount of praise.

Several awards and countless pieces later, she has shaken the art world up with her genuine style—changing the world of art and offering a place for people to tell their stories, one brush stroke at a time.