On Sunday, December 9th, 2018 at about 11:15 AM I received a call that my Father was
found unresponsive in his bed. I raced to his side. In the home that he lived in for my
entire life, a place that had so many good memories for me. A place that was always
synonymous with comfort because it was my Granny’s house. But what I found when I
got there changed all of that. My Father had died and that day changed the way I saw my
favourite place in the world forever. It changed the future of that house forever.
Since that day in 2018 my life has changed significantly. Art has always been a huge part
of my life in some form, but I never really utilized all my artistic prowess to its full
potential. As a child I dreamed of becoming an artist and painted in grammar school but
other than the occasional sip and paint I hadn’t been involved with anything paint
related in decades. I knew I still had creative talents, but I thought painting was no
longer a skillset that I possessed. That is, until I started Bermuda College. I started to
paint again. And I found that all my paint subjects were always people, places, things
that were close to me. Things that hold significant sentimental value to my life. It came
second nature. It was almost like I was painting them from memory and not by sight.
This piece was no different.
Last Breathe is what I’ve titled this piece, for a few reasons. In the window closest to
the viewer is the exact place where my Father took his last breath. The way the house is
depicted is a visual of how, (disappointingly) my homestead has deteriorated since the
death of my Father in 2018. The house is now also on its last breath. The caved-in roof is
splintered with cracks and holes with the whole house almost completed swallowed by
the overgrown foliage. But still, I see the beauty in this place. A beauty that I hope I have
captured in my painting
