Oil on canvas, 14”x14”

This painting began one way and ended another. It carries a powerful contrast - not just in style, but in tone, emotion, and timing.

The vibrant patterned background was created before a personal tragedy took place. At the time, I had no specific destination in mind. I was simply exploring rhythm and color through shape and pattern. The pinks, purples, reds, and oranges felt joyful, decorative, almost celebratory.

After the tragedy, I returned to the canvas in shock. I added the black-and-white figure as a form of art therapy. The figure is sparse, raw, and emotionally exposed. The tears are simple but heavy. Boxed into the center of the painting, drained of all color and pattern, it creates a stark rupture. A moment when everything stops. A visual silence surrounded by noise. Numbness.

Together, the two sections now live as one. The painting became a record of my joy and grief. The tension between styles, that fracture in the surface, is what gives the painting its emotional weight. A bright life, broken. A moment that divided everything into before and after.