20/10/2026
This painting is about loss, love and the strange ways we stay connected to those who are no longer here.
I made it in memory of my friend Carmel and my two cats.
Carmel had an incredible energy about her. She was full of life, colour and spirit, and I wanted something of that to come through in this painting. She also had an obsession with branches, trees and bubbles, so those motifs are woven into the work as a way of bringing something distinctly hers into it.
Losing her has been hard, not least because I could see her in my future and now have to find a way to imagine that future differently.
My cats have left their own absences, woven into the everyday things that make up a life.
I didn’t want to make a painting about sadness alone. I wanted colour, movement, life and a little bit of magic. The tree, branches, bubbles, figures and the light connecting everything reflect my feeling that our relationships don’t simply disappear when someone dies. They become part of us, part of how we see the world.
It’s not about making sense of loss. I’m not sure that’s possible. It’s about acknowledging the love, celebrating the lives, and finding a way to carry on with them still part of mine. ❤️
