“I started painting out of heartbreak,” said Maureen Gaffney Wolfson, an artist who recently opened a gallery featuring her work in Chatsworth, Calif. “It was therapy for me. Then it became a hobby. Then it became a career.”

Wolfson opened The Maureen Gaffney Wolfson Fine Art Gallery this past December. Though it may have originated from heartbreak, her paintings are full of color, light, and, perhaps most critically, the divine. 

The heartbreak was largely the result of a tumultuous childhood. Wolfson was born in Wooster, Mass., in 1943 to a mother in her early 20s and an alcoholic father. Due to difficulty finding housing, they lived, she recalled, in a “fleabag motel.”

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Wolfson, 81, recounted a story told to her from when she was just four months old, where she “kept crying for milk and there wasn’t any money because [my father] just drank it at the nearest bar. I wouldn’t stop crying, so he beat me black and blue.” 

She was eventually separated from her parents and spent time in foster homes and orphanages. It was at this point, Wolfson said, that her “soul was dying,” so she was sent to live with her grandmother. Following some time there, Wolfson was reunited with her mother who sent her to parochial school, a decision which Wolfson describes as “the best thing my mother could have ever done.” 

There, she learned about God, whom she described as “the saving grace throughout my life.” The Catholic school made such an impression on her that as a child she had decided to become a nun. 

However, this zeal for God was not always present in Wolfson’s adolescence. At age 13, she “gave up on God” because she thought that He “wasn’t fair.” Wolfson said she wondered why she “couldn’t be loved like everybody else.” But, looking back, she realizes that her “mother was raising six children by herself so she couldn’t very well spread her love out.” 

By 1958, her family moved to Tucson, Arizona. When Wolfson was 15, she graduated middle school and her mother moved to California. Wolfson opted to stay in Tucson, where she worked at a sewing factory and lived in a trailer on a dirt lot.

Five years of sewing in Tucson were enough for her, so, at age 20, Wolfson headed west to her mother in California. She only stayed there a year before moving to Los Angeles and getting hired as an actress on “The Red Skelton Show, a variety program. 

It was while working on the show that Wolfson took up painting, which she described as “therapy.”

If Red Skelton and painting weren’t enough, Wolfson also picked up some movie roles and started a modeling career. 

When she wasn’t walking runways or shooting movies, Wolfson was also shooting pool at Hollywood Legion Lanes and said she was “one of the first women that made money” doing it. 

While she was successful in her career, her personal life continued to be fraught with difficulty. Still keeping her distance from God, Wolfson said, “My life wasn’t all that great. I got into more trouble and attracted the wrong people.” 

She added: “I have almost been killed a few times. I have tried suicide three times, but I got through it. I knew [God] had something for me to do that must be important — that’s why I’m here.” 

Eventually, Wolfson made her way back to God. She was married in 1987. That’s when she decided to go “back to church.”

“My life has been nothing but beautiful ever since,” she said. 

Now, Wolfson said, “God is in my paintings and God is in everything that I do in my gallery because it is all about God’s creation. We are God’s creation, the earth is God’s creation. He saved me. He saved me from all the turmoil I went through.”

Wolfson described herself as a “lyrical artist. I tell a story in my paintings,” she said. “I use a lot of color. I am painting God’s world.”

Wolfson’s art ranges from galactic depictions of God, to still-life renderings of flower vases. They are often biographical and often spiritual. But the common thread is telling a story.

Though Wolfson identifies as a Catholic, she is not rigid about her religion being the only path to God. When the gallery opened, she had it blessed by a Catholic priest, a Black Baptist preacher and even a rabbi. 

“I believe all religions are good no matter what, as long as you believe in God,” she said.  

Wolfson also said she cares a great deal about children. As a result, she also developed a relationship with her local school district in order to have students visit the gallery and learn about art. 

“I want to help the younger people because they’re the next generation,” she said. “I want to send the message and hope they’ll pick it up.” 

Wolfson said paintings can be therapy for children much like it has been for her. She said “a lot of these kids are confused today. So I see them believing in God when they see these paintings, hopefully. I would love to see them be creative–it is another way for them to express their feelings. It is very important that they get [their feelings] out.”

The Maureen Gaffney Wolfson Fine Art Gallery is located at 19860 Plummer Street, Chatsworth, Calif.  91311. Visitors can call 800-588-8552 to schedule an appointment. 

Matthew Peterson is currently the John McCandlish Phillips intern at Religion Unplugged. He is a student at Baruch College in New York City.