Time Goes By was created from a deeply personal and vulnerable place. This piece represents my first oil painting and the beginning of a new artistic journey where self, experience and emotion are at the forefront.

Inspired by the stage of grief where time feels like a paradox, Time Goes By was created as a way for me to process my own experience with grief following the passing of my best friend.

The piece is not about fixating or romanticizing the darkness, but acknowledging that it exists and that we all experience it in our way. The addition of the candle was used as a symbol of both the transience of life and as a source of light, providing space for both loss and hope.

Grief has a way of making you want to hide, yet it’s the most visible thing about you. It’s a paradox, just like the way time acts when you’re in the thick of it. One second, it feels like the world has come to a grinding halt, frozen in time. The next, you realize weeks have blurred past while you were still standing in that same spot.

I painted this because sometimes the only way to handle being seen is to put the feeling onto a canvas first. To show the version of us that’s just trying to keep the light from going out while the clock keeps ticking by.

xx- Marine Aimée