This painting is named after a beautiful song by Damien Jurado, and it was inspired by the lyric: "It is not easy, when you get burned, and go on burning light". What a stunning way to express how difficult it is to remain hopeful, to keep faith alive, after being hurt. That kind of heartbreak leaves a mark, it changes how you move through the world. This piece evokes the feeling of falling from the sky without a parachute. The speed, the blur, the way everything compresses into streaks and trails as you plummet. In the midst of that chaos, your eyes catch a cloud, and for a fleeting, irrational moment, you believe it might cushion your fall. That somehow, maybe, everything will be okay.
The painting sits in that space between despair and fragile hope, the split second where you choose to believe in softness again, even as you're falling.
Beeswax, damar resin, dry pigments and shellac on cradled wood panel
