These are a few paintings from the most recent series that I have been working on. The tree silhouettes were inspired by the beautiful old oak tree that is in my grandparents' front yard.

My Bochie (this is what we call our grandmas in our extended family, I believe the word is some toddler's mis pronunciation of the Polish word for grandma) just passed away this past November. Her birthday was Valentine's Day, so these memories are again fresh in my mind. I have never really experienced the death of someone so close to me before, and although grieving has been a painful experience, it has also made me more aware of who I am and who I want to be. My memories of her have also provided me with inspiration for my work, and doing the work is healing in itself.

When I was painting these last semester, I was really busy, and I was double booked, so I didn't actually attend my painting class, so my teacher didn't see my work until the end of the semester, and when I told her about my inspiration, she surprised me by saying that just by looking at them, she could tell that they were about death and the afterlife. I guess tree images do have a lot of symbolism attached to them, but I was surprised to hear her say that. Apparently art can speak about the artist in ways I couldn't have expected.