the story

I have always loved art; however, I didn’t do any until the beginning of the pandemic. I had chosen to take a fun art class to finish off my college, but before we could get to painting, COVID shut us down. I bought a ton of acrylics and started painting without any direction. I really leaned into portraiture and the first painting came out cartoonish but the second came out super realistic. I had posted my progress of the acrylic on Instagram and I was shocked that other people also were impressed. I wish I could say that I started and never stopped, but unfortunately I had a very traumatic summer.

My favorite oil painting was my first completed oil painting. I was looking for something, anything to help me cope with the pain of my marriage having ended abruptly. I was attending therapy every week and crying every night. I needed something to get my mind off the pain. That is where “Pieces by the Mourning” came to reality. I wanted to release the agony of leaving an abusive marriage. With each brushstroke, I felt like I was slowly healing the parts of me that had died as a compromise to stay in that marriage.

When I finished “Pieces by the Mourning,” I cried with delight at having created something I was proud of, but also of seeing the pain that I had felt being reflected back at me. I finally felt like she took my pain as her own and I no longer had to live with it. I will forever be grateful to the woman in my painting.

With each new piece, I push myself further into the emotions I have kept buried. Hearing from those around me about the pain they keep silent, helps me to realize that my art is important. That emotions demand to be felt in order to heal. That other people can connect to my art because of their own traumas.

I want my art to help heal and empower other women to find their own resilience.