The Heartland

60 cm x 70 cm, mixed media on canvas

The Heartland evolved over several weeks, beginning as a still life before being rotated, reworked, and layered into something more expansive. Clean lines, masking tape, and oil pastels were combined with a freer, more expressive approach, resulting in a painting that explores the contradictions at the core of the human heart. Love and hope sit alongside despair and pain; regret and guilt alongside storms, peace, light, and harmony. All the elements are present: wind shaking things loose; water, serene yet unfathomable; fire, alive with passion but destructive in its force; and earth, layered with history and new growth, grounding and sustaining. The result is a work that seeks to embody both the turbulence and the beauty of a life fully lived.