This painting depicts the emotional processes associated with the universal
human experiences of grieving for the loss of loved ones. The four rectangular
shapes represent the discrete phases of shock and denial, anger, sadness,
acceptance, and bargaining. Each rectangular phase has its own predominant
colors which are reflective of the emotions and experiences which dominate
each stage.
The shapes and forms, however, are not all discrete or fully appreciated at
first glance. There are triangular or pyramidal shapes, upright and inverted,
which represent simultaneously experiencing different emotions, such as
denial and anger; anger and sadness; sadness, and acceptance.
There is a central path which winds through the course of grieving. A
path that is followed in the processing of the experience. The lightning bolt
represents prominent sharp stabbing emotional pain and anguish. There are
different shades of the blue colors; each shade represents a different depth and
intensity of sadness.
The eclipse of the sun and the moon represent denial, but also symbolizes
other things. The sun and the moon symbolize heavenly, divine, &/or natural
processes; things we have no control over. The eclipse also represents grief
triggering innate unconscious processes in which loss generates reactions
and feelings that we are unable to control. Grief is an automated inherited
neurological process that all humans experience. It is hard-wired into our
brains.
The permanency of this image reminds us that we never completely stop
grieving for our loved ones who have passed. We never stop missing them.
The intensity of grief and the feelings may diminish with time; however, they
never completely disappear.
Each subsequent loss cumulatively resurrects these feelings and processes.
- Subject Matter: ABSTRACT
- Collections: PAINTINGS, Z ART OF EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY & HEALING