Asylum of Memories

Unraveling Grace-Hand Painted by me-Acrylic on Canvas. I love this one because it shows so many contrasts of emotion within a beautiful woman who appears so strong just trying to contain it all.

My painting represents the private moment that comes after a long and difficult day, week, month, or even a lifetime—when no one is watching and my mask can finally fall.

It reflects the exhaustion, grief, and vulnerability we often hide from the world. Behind my image appears a comforting presence, cradling both the person and the emotions they have carried alone. That figure may be an angel, a memory, a wish, or simply the comfort our mind longs for for when no one is there.

This painting explores the deep need to be held, understood, and protected when we are at our most emotionally exposed. It is meant to leave you with an unanswered question: is the comforting figure real, or imagined-does the heart need someone to help us survive the silence?

Created in layered shades of blue with expressive black linework, this piece carries a haunting sense of tenderness, loneliness, and emotional release.

Elegy for a Voice- 2of 3- Acrylic on canvas-my original, hand painted.

This is my third, largest, and central painting in a three-piece series exploring innocence, systematic abuse, and what remains afterward.

My inner child who will always exist, stands on the inside of a heavily secured doorway surrounded by memories labeled with sorrow, fear, loneliness, worry, and danger. Behind the barrier, the monster still exists, but it can no longer reach me. The painful memories have not disappeared; instead, they have been gathered, named, and locked inside my safe place where they can be faced without being allowed to take control ever again.

The red balloon represents the childlike joy and gentleness that survived. Although experience has changed and hardened me, the compassionate, hopeful, and loving part of me remains unbroken-just preserved nicely in a place away from danger. I can return to that asylum where innocence is no longer defenseless, but protected.

This painting is not about forgetting trauma or pretending it never happened. It is about reclaiming authority over where those memories live and preserving the softest parts of oneself despite everything that tried to destroy them.

Together, the series follows an emotional journey from innocence, through wounding and imposed silence, to preservation. Asylum of the Gentle Unbroken represents a time when survivors stops running from the past, placing it behind a locked door, and creating a sanctuary for the part of themselves that still knows how to feel, hope, and love.

Naïveté’s Gift-1 of a 3 part series- Acrylic on canvas.

Sentinel of Secrets-hand-painted acrylic on canvas. My attempt at a thought provoking image I saw about the things we witness.

Familiar Respite- handmade acrylic on canvas. Here, I express memory, healing, and places within myself that are still familiar even though many of my burdens have been removed.

The empty barn represents the most guarded part of my heart where painful memories were carried. With the help of someone who cared enough to listen as I unpacked them, I was finally able to clear that space. Not much remains inside the barn, but a shadow of me still runs to it from time to time. It once held my pain, and for that reason, it can still feel strangely safe.

This painting shows the complicated path of healing—the relief of letting go, the comfort of familiar emptiness, and the moments when I still feel lost even after surviving what once confined me.

Keeper of the Homestead-original handmade acrylic on canvas- A woman standing among her chickens looking toward a peaceful country home.

This painting shows the beauty found in ordinary routines. The woman becomes the quiet guardian of her surroundings—tending the animals, the land, and the gentle moments that make a house into a home.

This painting would add warmth and character to a farmhouse kitchen, cottage, dining room, country home, or homestead wall. Each brushstroke is painted by hand, making this an original work.