From Inside the Bubble

For the past week I have been watching the absolute horror of the southern bushfires unfold (along with the rest of the world!). As each day brought more news, more images and more emotions..I found myself sinking further and further into an unstoppable melancholy. At first I felt the pain and fear of so many, then I felt the overwhelming anxiety of the situation getting worse! My own mood was foundering and my spirits sank, my imagination took a journey to "what if it happened to me???...how would I cope, how would I get out should a fire threaten my home. I began to feel hopeless and hated my physicality (there is no way I would have been able to get myself or my daughter to safety had I been within the reach of those fires) so much that I almost gave up on myself!!!
But then, I forced myself to return to my studio and without too much of a plan, began to paint. What kept haunting me, was the eyes of the people in those fires. What they saw and how those eyes must be feeling. How the smoke and heat would have effected them...out came "My eyes are tired, they hurt, I cannot see"...its not just a a view of those eyes that I painted, it is a look inside the hearts as well. Then...I decided that I may just be able to help by selling this painting and donating the whole price back to the fundraising efforts for the people that inspired it. $1000 is certainly no where near the cost of the subject.
Please contact me if you are interested!