Grief
When a dear sister-in-law suddenly died, the entire family was shocked and devastated. I found myself wanting to depict grief. I decided to portray her adult daughter, my niece, as a little girl. I did a profile of her with a bereft expression. Nobody had any good photos for me to work from, so I had to wing it. I created a very hollowed out heart shape in her little chest, with her hand lifted up. Above is a very large heart in which I created obvious cracks. I filled these with gold leaf. It shows that even with feelings of great hollowing bereavement, expansion and beauty are possible.