To Those In My Universe

Artist Statement: This painting is based off of a thought I believed when I was little. I believed that every time a new person is introduced into your life or you bond with someone, it forms this invisible string from them to your heart. While at the point I came up with this theory it was very vague and childish, I realize now that I wasn’t exactly wrong. Every person you have ever interacted with has shaped your life in some way. Even if it was for 10 minutes or 10 years, that is an experience that is built into the story of you.

For this artwork, I wanted to focus on the people who have impacted me or connected with me the most in my life. The hands are the hands of my closest friends and family, and the light wrapping around them connects them to my heart to try and illustrate the theory I had as a kid. The galaxy looking shapes and stars in the background are there to represent just how crazy it is and how lucky I am to have these people in my life. Out of over 8 billion people on this planet and billions of galaxies that may or may not have other lifeforms in them, I have been so fortunate to experience my life with these people. The odds are so small, but yet here I am, forever thankful for those who have made me into who I am today.

I tried to make this piece very colorful and saturated, almost ignoring the basic colors and tones in my references to make the painting more inviting to draw the viewer in so they can follow the lines of light to guide their eyes around the illustration.