Reflecting On A New Painting

Hi Friends,

I’ve been working on a new mixed media piece, and I want to tell you what it means to me and how it makes me feel when I look at it. The whole painting is red, and the color red was intentional. For a while now, I have been thinking about the color red and how I want to create a collection of paintings centered around it.

I collaged pages from an anatomy and physiology book into it. I also glued in coupons, the kind that come in the mail. They’re not obvious. You have to really look to see them. And if you look at the top of the painting, you’ll notice 4 pennies. These elements were not intentional at all; I was just having fun. I never knew what the work was about until after it was finished. What I know is that subconsciously, it will communicate something by the time the work is complete. Whether it’s past experiences or something I am going through at the moment.

Untitled for now

36×36in Mixed Media on Canvas

After the work was finished, I started thinking about the healthcare system in America. Especially, how the body is treated like something that can be priced. Everything is billed, coded, and has a cost. It makes me wonder what health is worth when it’s reduced to numbers on a bill? What is human life worth when it goes through a system that itemizes it?

At the same time, I was also thinking about harmony and how I wanted the paint, pastels, and crayons to work together.

I wanted a sort of balance in the work, and that made me think about how the body itself is built on harmony. Every system is working together. Every organ depends on another. So now I see the piece as holding two things at once. The body is sacred and complex, but in our system, it is often treated like a transaction.

I’m still processing it, but this work feels like the beginning of a deeper conversation about value, health, and what we choose to measure.

Thank you for being here and letting me share the process with you.