Acrylic on canvas 

36”x60”

2018

We are not in charge of things like love or joy. They exist no matter what we do, what we experience, or what we choose. They may sometimes feel out our reach, we may turn our back on them, and we may lose sight of them completely at times, but still, they exist.

Still, life continues. Still, the earth turns. Still, the sun keeps rising.

Sometimes we can embrace and appreciate and share love so well and so much that we feel it as close as an old friend. But still, we cannot conjure it. We can’t make it exist or cease to exist. We can’t invent joy by surrounding ourselves with certain things or a specific number of people. And our fragile, human hearts sometimes feel an awful lot of pain and confusion and anxiousness and uncertainty for joy to be able to breathe fully within.

That’s nothing to feel ashamed of.

In the creation of this painting, I came to relearn these truths as such a comforting release of control. We don’t need to be in charge of love or pretend we know the secret to joy or hang on to them for dear life for fear of them abandoning us. Love and joy are ours for the having, no earning required…and when we don’t know if we can feel them, we’re usually moments away from realizing that they were there carrying us all along.

The sun will keep rising.