"TO lose thee, sweeter than to gain
All other hearts I knew.
’T is true the drought is destitute,
But then I had the dew!"

......this piece is about losing not only one particular love, but perhaps the ability to love and trust at all ..... will she try to get it back, or is it just too far and too difficult a journey?

I painted this first and then looked for a suitable poem, rather than the other way around. But the general theme, of love and maybe even life getting away from one, was a major theme in the works of Emily Dickenson.

That she had so little contact with the outside world and yet wrote so knowingly about life and love is amazing.

Is it a self portrait? Perhaps. Although I believe all art is self portraiture to some extent. As well, each piece act as a mirror, so that perhaps no one sees a work exactly the same.