During a season of insomnia, I'd wake around 3 a.m. and drive to the beach. I felt consumed by my own mind, convinced I needed to understand every emotion before I could move through it. But sitting beside something so vast and unknowable changed that.

The ocean made me feel small, and for the first time, that felt like freedom. My thoughts weren't the biggest thing in the world anymore. I realized I didn't need to understand every part of myself any more than I needed to understand the depths of the ocean. Some things are meant to be experienced, not explained.

Morning after morning, I'd sit in the dark, listening to the waves until the sun came up. Somehow, that's where I felt God the most. The ocean never took away my pain, but it reminded me I was part of something far greater than it.

These paintings reflect that time. Gold spray paint and gold leaf catch the light like sunlight shimmering across the surface of the water. The resin adds another layer: when sunlight hits the paintings, they reflect light back out in a way that looks like the surface of the ocean.