The Wanderer” was monumental in the development of myself as an artist……This painting was the only piece that I had contemplated not finishing. Not because I was unsure of how it would turn out, but instead was an emotional paralysis from losing my mother to stage 4 cancer. I still have a hard time saying that word to be honest. I was midway through this painting when she passed away. I knew that this painting that she was waiting to see finished, one that through colour and mood had spoken to her, would be the only one she would not have seen complete. I would not put paint to canvas for another 5 months, holding on to my grief. At that point my heart needed an outlet and felt I needed to move forward. The more time I spent with this whale, the more I felt like “The Wanderer”, vulnerable under the surface, and while coming up for air, trying to find the beauty in my surroundings.

In “The Wanderer” the ghosted imagery in the sky represents the whales relationship with the earth’s elements, and the hands with ovoid palms depicts humankind’s connection within that. This piece of my story, serves as a gentle reminder of the healing power of nature and the parallels drawn within it.