Are you satisfied with your job?

By: David Leonard

Davis Island, Florida - They say that true art comes from suffering, but for Elise Gres, her art came when the misery stopped.

Gres says she always liked to draw and paint, but says “I thought of artists as famous and dead.”

Like Gauguin, Gres took a leap of faith and left a career that was making her unhappy to pursue art. After graduating law school, Gres worked for a few years at a law firm, but knew litigation wasn’t her true calling.

After two years, she called it quits to paint full time. She even gave up her license to practice.

Since then, Gres has been perfecting her art. She has been commissioned for portraits and still life’s, and sees her work as preserving family memories.

We caught up with the artist at her studio and discussed leaving the lucrative field of law to practice art. Watch her video story to the right.

Click here to see more of the lawyer-turned-artist's work.