Oil on canvas, 16”x20”

2009

This painting was created during a time in my life when everything felt uncertain…personally, emotionally, and even artistically. I had always identified as a portrait and abstract artist, but something in me wanted to prove myself wrong about what I thought I couldn’t do. I believed I wasn’t capable of painting landscapes. It sounds strange to say now, but at the time, that self-imposed limit felt real.

So I set out to teach myself. I was going through a rough time outside of art and I needed something else to focus on. This painting was from that period of quiet determination and struggle. The snow-covered trees, painted with a muted calmness, became a kind of therapy. I remember my younger sister liking this piece in particular, and that meant the world to me.

This painting represents not just a new skill learned, but a turning point in how I saw myself as an artist, no longer boxed in by old stories. I now paint landscapes regularly, along with portraits, abstracts, and anything else I feel called to create.