The Process

I started with where I was at. Broken. I wanted to represent being stuck, being in a place that I could not leave, could not run from, I was chained to this place. I drew my hands with the chains wrapped around them and the lock with no place to put a key. I included many scriptures and words about abuse, bound, chained, etc. I think words add so much to this piece and I did it in a jagged font to add more power to the words. When I typed up the words some of them came out with uppercase on the first letter on accident, but this was a happy accident. On the middle piece I placed all the words with an upper case letter which was perfect to my recovery process. The middle section has a bridge and for me this represented me crossing over, going from such a dark place, a dark time, a time of brokenness to being healed and loving myself again. The trees are all changing with the leaves falling. Most of this piece is done in pencil, black and white. I added very little color but the color represents the changing of the seasons. In life, I believe we all go through seasons. We change, whether good or bad, we change. This represented the work I was doing to get better for myself and for my son. My little boy was my main focus. I was NEVER going to give up. He is my world and makes me who I am. The leaves changing completely represent that change. I also added the girl reading scripture. Church and my journey with God was a HUGE part in my healing. I read so many books that my counselor provided, to help seek myself, to help think about how I got to where I was and how I was going to get to where I wanted to be. There is a purple bracelet on her wrist, purple represents several things. First, it is my favorite color, it is also the color that represents domestic violence, as well as a symbol of royalty, for me that meant Jesus and his presence in my life. From the middle piece, I dreamed of where I wanted to be. For me that meant PEACE, happiness, being content and happy with me, who I am, as a mom, a woman, a teacher, who I am comfortable with in my own skin. WOW! How in the world would I ever get there??? At that time it seemed impossible. So to portray where I wanted to be no matter how long it took to get there, I drew the dove. A symbol of peace, comfort, joy, happiness. I included more scripture about those things that I wanted and more words in a soft blue. I drew the hands around the baby feet in the shape of a heart, representing my son and I, this is what I wanted. Love, happiness and to be the best mother I can possibly be for my son. This piece of artwork was one of the most meaning pieces in my journey I have ever done. I grew so much while working on this piece. I was becoming the woman I knew was inside me and the person I wanted to be.