A Way of Grieving:

My elderly parents both died in 2013.   It was sad – but they both died peacefully at home after long and full lives.   As we packed family papers into apple boxes to store in the attic, my brother said ‘It’s sad: Mum and Dad’s stuff fit into four apple boxes and two ash bags.’  It was sadly true, but also quite untrue.  Later, I thought about my brother’s words.  So I painted them.  In my images, the boxes and bags are empty, to evoke feelings of uncertainty, loneliness, waiting, emptiness, abandonment, yearning, ending, and so on.  Grief is a universal experience, but everyone’s grief is different.   Not everyone will connect with my pictures.  But some viewers might recognise something of their own grief in these images, and so respond to their quiet stillness.

 

Stairs:

 

Mandala:

 

Exploring:

 

Metro Series:

 

 

Quick sketches of people and surroundings:

 

Dislocation:

 

Altered photos: