Artist Ellen Chaput is donating all profits from the sale of her artwork in 2011 to benefit cancer-related charities

Two years ago Ellen Chaput picked up a paintbrush and started painting. “This was my first attempt at paining anything in twenty years. I have always known art was my first love but for years I was so busy building my insurance practice that art had to go on the back burner. For 25 years Ellen has worked in the field of employee benefits. As owner of Ellen Chaput Insurance she specializes in employee benefits and individual and group health insurance.

“I took an oil class twenty years ago, but only finished a few paintings because I was allergic to the solvents used to clean the brushes.” Two years ago “I jumped in head first and have been painting prolifically since. I love painting landscapes, architecture and flowers. I love to paint happy subjects to help inspire hope, because so many of my paintings are named in honor or in memory of peopled that have cancer.”

Ellen has been a member of the board of the American Cancer Society for seven years. A twenty-year cancer survivor herself, she lost both of her parents to the disease. Profits from her painting will be donated to the American Cancer Society and the Space Coast Cancer Foundation.

“Life is a journey, says Ellen. “You have to be ready to paint, when I was younger I wasn’t ready, now I am and art continually flows from my thoughts and on to my paper.”