Onwards & Upwards | 36x48 | acrylic
Upwards and Onwards is a conversation between weight and will. It speaks to the truth that heaviness does not cancel lift; it defines it. Every layer of texture, every dense pocket of color, becomes a record of what has been carried, not what has held us down. The balloon rises not because it is light, but because it refuses to stay grounded by what it has endured.
This piece is about momentum born from resistance. Like a heart that has learned how to beat through storms, or a tide that keeps pulling forward despite the drag of the ocean floor, this painting honors the quiet strength of forward motion. The surface is busy because life is busy. The weight is real because experience is real. And still, it ascends.
The balloon becomes a metaphor for the self: layered, burdened, scarred, vibrant, and stubbornly alive. It shows that growth isn’t the absence of baggage, but the ability to rise with it. That sometimes the very things that feel like anchors are what give shape to our flight. Like wind through stained glass, beauty forms because of the fractures, not in spite of them.
This painting suggests that optimism isn’t fragile or naïve. It’s muscular. It’s earned. It’s the decision to trust that motion will eventually find direction, that even in chaos there is a current, and that a beautiful breeze doesn’t need perfection to guide you somewhere meaningful.
Upwards and Onwards is about believing that lift comes from persistence, not purity. Believing that your story (your weight, your texture, your density, your color) never disqualifies you from rising. It makes the ascent more powerful.
