What It Takes to Get Back Up, 2023

With rich, bold stokes of a palette knife, a vulnerable moment was captured in the fading morning light. What does it take for all of us to pick ourselves up from sorrow and move ahead in our lives? Here I use the figure's nudity solely to conve...

With rich, bold stokes of a palette knife, a vulnerable moment was captured in the fading morning light. What does it take for all of us to pick ourselves up from sorrow and move ahead in our lives? Here I use the figure's nudity solely to convey vulnerability and raw emotion. I think we all can relate to the devastating power of grief, and how sometimes it feels we are barely pulling ourselves out of its clutches at the start of a day. The deep blues are purposely employed for their namesake moodiness, but they are countered by the vivid pinks and yellows, that remind us of the bright and light elements of our lives. The pose might be recognizable to some - it is an adaptation of Andrew Wyeth's woman lying in a field in "Christina's World". I wanted to capture the same sense of ambiguity and hidden potential in this figurative work.