Living Between art and multiple sclerosis
Art is often seen as something finished, something final. However, many artists experience it very differently. They create through a process that evolves over time and reflects lived experience in a layered way.
Working in layers is not just a technique. It is a way of understanding life itself.
Layers as Memory, Emotion, and Time
Every layer in a painting holds something invisible. Sometimes, it holds hesitation. Other times, it carries clarity. In many cases, it holds both at once.
When I create mixed media work, I do not remove previous marks completely. Instead, I allow them to remain partially visible because this reflects something essential about human experience.
Because in many ways, we are also layered beings.
We carry versions of ourselves that still exist beneath who we are becoming.
Why I Don’t Paint Over Everything
In traditional approaches, artists often cover mistakes. In my work, I choose a different path.
Instead of erasing, I build.
Instead of hiding, I transform.
This approach allows the artwork to reflect something more honest: growth does not erase the past; it integrates it.
Through texture paste, gesso, inks, and oils, each material interacts with what came before it. Nothing exists in isolation. Everything contributes to the final expression.
Healing Through Layers
There is something deeply healing about working in this way. As I build a painting, I often think about how humans heal through similar patterns.
We do not become new people overnight. Instead, we evolve through accumulation… of experiences, emotions, and realizations.
Some layers feel soft. Others feel heavier. Some are barely visible, yet they remain essential to the whole.
Healing, like painting, is not about perfection. Rather, it is about integration.
The Emotional Language of Mixed Media
Mixed media allows for complexity and emotional depth. Because of this, texture becomes a language that expresses what words cannot always hold.
Acrylic inks flow freely, while texture paste creates resistance. Meanwhile, oil paint softens transitions, bringing harmony to contrast.
This tension between control and surrender is where meaning emerges. In fact, it is often where emotional truth lives.
Essence in Bloom as a Layered Story
My painting Essence in Bloom is a clear example of this philosophy in visual form. Through this work, I explore how identity develops in layers rather than in a single moment.
The woman in the piece is surrounded by texture, light, and floral symbolism. Rather than being presented as fixed, she exists in a state of continuous becoming.
She represents acceptance, not as an endpoint, but as an ongoing process. She is built in layers, just like the painting.
Why This Matters Beyond Art
We often think we need to “fix” ourselves before we can move forward. But layered work suggests something different.
It suggests that nothing needs to be removed for growth to happen.
Instead, everything we have lived becomes part of what we create next.
This applies not only to art, but to identity, healing, and self-perception.
Final Reflection
Working in layers is accepting complexity. Ultimately, it means understanding that beauty does not come from perfection, but from depth. And over time, depth is built through experience, reflection, and integration.
Continue This Journey
If you resonate with this way of seeing art and life, I share deeper reflections each month inside The Bloom Letter — where art, healing, and creative process come together in a more personal space.
You can also explore Essence in Bloom, a piece that reflects this layered philosophy in visual form.
