“Emerging”

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Acrylic paint on board, professionally framed with museum-quality glass. The outside dimensions of the frame are 17" × 22.5", and the painted image measures 9" × 14.5".

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Years ago, I saw a woman standing in the sun with her eyes closed, completely unaware of everything happening around her. She wasn't doing anything extraordinary. She was simply enjoying the warmth on her face. For whatever reason, that quiet moment stayed with me.

When I eventually painted this piece, I didn't want to create a realistic figure. Instead, she slowly emerged from twisting, vine-like forms, rising from the water toward the light. As she leans back, her face, neck, and chest open to the warmth of the sun, almost as though she is welcoming it.

As I worked, I realized something I hadn't intended at the beginning. At first, I thought she was offering herself to the light. By the time the painting was finished, it felt as though she was also allowing herself to receive what the light had to give.

I think many of us spend so much time moving from one responsibility to the next that we forget to simply pause and notice the world around us. The woman who inspired this painting didn't seem burdened by whatever else was happening in her life. For that brief moment, she was simply present.

Perhaps that's what this painting is really about.