Hope for Renewal

Medium Description

Acrylic paintOn stretched canvas

Artist Description

This piece portrays a deeply personal journey—I have lost a relationship with someone I deeply care about, someone I’ve always symbolized through sunflowers. My seeing the sunflowers drooping downward, lifeless, yet still possessing beauty, gives me hope. In the self-depiction, I am not crying or overcome with grief. I have in the past felt those things in a very real sense over the past three years. However, through therapy, research, and self-reflection, I have learned to have hope that the future can be different—that I can have this relationship restored one day. Restoration is symbolized through the bright yellow petals and my personal emotional state  is represented by the swirling and conflicting lines throughout the background. I’ve chosen to place the bright, lifelike petals at the far end of my gaze because I realize that the relationship renewal/restoration is part of my possible future and not in my past and I’ve accepted this renewal does not seem to be part of my current stage of life so I choose to grow through this time. Lastly, I’ve learned that often in this life, beauty can come from suffering, tragedy, and loss. So. I choose to have hope and to abide in hope.