Loss of any kind is a harrowing experience and the gradual recovery from this shock is what we know as mourning.

I have come to realise that grieving is just like the moon – it is a cycle.

Returning emotions wax and wane again and again, just like the moon.

One of my favourite poems is "Invictus" and I created this painting with it in my mind.
I wanted to portray that at our core, we are invincible and will eventually emerge victorious after we have weathered the storms of life with our courage, strength, faith, and perseverance.

Invictus

(William Ernest Henley - 1849-1903)

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.