Letting It Out: Exploring Emotional Expression in Art

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role emotion plays in my art. Not just the feelings that spark an idea, but the way emotion shows up—sometimes loud and clear, sometimes in strange little whispers—through brush strokes, color choices, and textures that surprise even me.

My creative life is often where I process the quieter, more tangled parts of myself. I don’t always set out to paint an emotion, but it inevitably finds its way into the piece. A blurry edge that feels a little sad. A bold color that insists on being seen. A bird in the corner that showed up uninvited but won’t leave. It’s not always intentional, but it’s always honest.

Art, for me, is often less about “expression” in a big, dramatic way and more about permission. Permission to feel something fully. To let the subconscious do some of the heavy lifting. To trust that the strange shapes and moody skies I’m drawn to are telling me something—even if I don’t quite understand it right away.

I used to worry about whether my work was “good enough” or if it looked too raw or too weird. But the more I paint, the more I realize that emotional truth is the thing that makes art matter. Not just to other people—but to me. When I stop trying to control the outcome and let myself get a little messy, that’s when the magic happens.

If you’re an artist (or a writer, or a musician, or just a human trying to stay sane), I hope you give yourself that space too. Let it be imperfect. Let it be a little off. Let it be a mirror you don’t quite recognize yet.

Sometimes, that's where the real beauty lives.

Golden Light Flight – Part of my nature series, this piece captures a flock of geese mid-flight through a golden sunset sky. The rich, textured background and moody contrast of the birds reflect the emotional weight I often find in quiet moments of transition and movement.