IMG_1376-Photoroom.jpg
IMG_1376-Photoroom.jpg

Love on the Rocks

$100.00

2025
5 × 7 in.
Watercolor and Ink on Paper

A woman sits on the floor with a bottle raised above her, pouring the alcohol directly into her mouth. Her bright clothing, exaggerated pose, and almost playful expression make the moment look like a celebration at first. But there is nothing being celebrated.

She drinks because her husband does not truly love her. She knows it, even if neither of them is willing to say it out loud. The alcohol becomes a way of escaping the loneliness of sharing a life with someone who is physically present but emotionally absent. Her marriage exists on paper, but the love that is supposed to give it meaning is gone.

Her exaggerated smile is intentional. It represents the performance of happiness: the version of herself that other people see compared with what she actually feels when she is alone. The bottle becomes both a comfort and a distraction, temporarily allowing her to avoid confronting what she already knows.

Love on the Rocks plays with the double meaning of its title. A drink can be served “on the rocks,” while a relationship “on the rocks” is approaching collapse. The painting captures the strange loneliness of being married and still feeling completely alone, and the ways people sometimes numb themselves rather than face a truth that would force their life to change.

2025
5 × 7 in.
Watercolor and Ink on Paper

A woman sits on the floor with a bottle raised above her, pouring the alcohol directly into her mouth. Her bright clothing, exaggerated pose, and almost playful expression make the moment look like a celebration at first. But there is nothing being celebrated.

She drinks because her husband does not truly love her. She knows it, even if neither of them is willing to say it out loud. The alcohol becomes a way of escaping the loneliness of sharing a life with someone who is physically present but emotionally absent. Her marriage exists on paper, but the love that is supposed to give it meaning is gone.

Her exaggerated smile is intentional. It represents the performance of happiness: the version of herself that other people see compared with what she actually feels when she is alone. The bottle becomes both a comfort and a distraction, temporarily allowing her to avoid confronting what she already knows.

Love on the Rocks plays with the double meaning of its title. A drink can be served “on the rocks,” while a relationship “on the rocks” is approaching collapse. The painting captures the strange loneliness of being married and still feeling completely alone, and the ways people sometimes numb themselves rather than face a truth that would force their life to change.

The Smell of a Lie The Smell of a Lie
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The Smell of a Lie
$150.00

Year: 2023
Size: 14 × 20 inches
Display: Floating art frame
Medium: Watercolor cutout, paint-marker outlines, and hand-painted glass

A married man sits with another woman wrapped around him, holding her body with one hand and money with the other. He spends his nights drinking, visiting clubs, cheating, lying, stealing, and chasing whatever satisfies him in the moment. When he returns home, he expects the life he abandoned for the night to continue as though nothing happened.

His unhappy wife smells the alcohol on his breath but pretends she does not. She drinks to numb herself and maintains the appearance of a happy marriage because acknowledging the truth would force everything to change. Their daughter does not need anyone to explain what is happening. Children recognize broken promises, tension, and absence long before adults believe they do.

The Smell of a Lie explores the false image of the perfect American family. From the outside, there may be a husband, wife, child, and home. Inside, there is betrayal, addiction, silence, and a child learning that love sometimes means pretending not to know the truth.

The woman clinging to the man represents the secret life he believes he can leave behind before walking through his front door. The money symbolizes how he treats affection, loyalty, and pleasure as things that can be purchased. His smile reflects the confidence of someone who believes every person around him exists to protect his comfort.

A lie does not only belong to the person telling it. It changes the people forced to live around it. His wife becomes responsible for preserving the illusion, while his daughter inherits a version of love built on distrust. The moment he is caught does not suddenly change who he is. It reveals who he has been all along. We are often most honest when the lies we created can no longer protect us.