WHERE LOVE GROWS

I’ve been struggling with time lately.

I feel like life has been moving so quickly, and there’s always something else that needs my attention. Sometimes I look at my schedule and wonder when I’m actually supposed to have the time to sit down and make something.

This painting was one of those pieces that came together in a really small pocket of time.

And I think that’s part of why it means so much to me.

When I started painting it, my heart was honestly hurting. I was thinking about some of the things I’ve lost, some of the things that have changed, and how quickly life can take you from one version of yourself into another.

Because I think we all have these moments where we look around and realize that things aren’t what we thought they were going to be.

People change. Relationships change. Seasons end. Sometimes things are taken from us before we’re ready to let them go.

And while I was painting, I think I was processing a lot of that without even realizing it.

I started building up these flowers around the edges, letting them get messier and fuller and more alive, while leaving this open space in the middle.

And the more I looked at it, the more that open space started to feel intentional.

Almost like a reminder that there is still room for something new.

That even when your life changes, there can still be beauty growing around the places that once felt empty.

And that’s where the name came from.
“Where Love Grows”.

Because I think I used to associate love with what I got to keep.

But I’m learning that love can exist in so many different places.

It can live in a memory. It can live in something that ended. It can live in the people who changed you, even if they aren’t still standing beside you.

And sometimes, I think love grows most in the places that hurt us.

When I look at this painting, I see something beautiful on the surface. Flowers, color, texture, all of this life growing and reaching toward the center.

But underneath that beauty is a moment where I was hurting.  I think that’s how life is, too.

We can be carrying grief and still be growing. We can miss what we lost and still be excited about what’s ahead. We can have absolutely no idea what comes next and still leave room for something beautiful to find us.

I made this in a little pocket of time when I didn’t think I had enough time to make anything meaningful.

And maybe that was the lesson I needed.

Maybe we’re not always going to have the time we wish we had. Maybe life is always going to be changing faster than we’re ready for.

But there is still something growing and it’s still something beautiful.

There’s still room for love, and maybe, it can grow in the places we thought were only meant for loss.