This painting is about trying to hold two seemingly disparate things in your mind at once. While having a conversation with my sister I told her how hard the first year of motherhood was for me as well as how much joy it brought me. So many people would say 'it's so hard but it's so worth it'. I couldn't put my thumb on it but this bothered me. She told me that these two ideas don't have to cancel each other out. Neither feeling has to outweigh the other. I could hold both at once without dissonance. So much of life and especially trying to be a disciple is like this. We can hold both. There is growth and beauty in this. Faith is holding both.
Reproduced from the artist's original artwork of Oil on Board 24 x 36. Painted 2023.