The Story...
Art has a way of telling stories when words fail. Hidden Heartbreak is one of my most personal pieces—one that holds not just one story, but two, layered together in paint.
This painting began as an exploration of my own grief—the kind hidden so deep, I wasn’t sure how to face it. As I painted the first layer, raw and unfiltered emotions emerged. The painting felt chaotic, uncertain, full of confusion and heaviness that comes with the shock of loss. It felt as if the painting absorbed something I could never describe.
But then something unexpected happened: I couldn’t leave it there. Exposing that heartbreak felt too vulnerable, too loud. So I painted over it—a second layer, a mask.
Why? Because grief doesn’t always announce itself to the world. I’d spent years hiding mine, hiding it behind distractions, and this second layer felt honest in its own way. It became a symbol of the mask we sometimes wear, the ways we conceal pain even from ourselves.
