The idea for this painting came after discovering the following quote by the writer Jamie Anderson:

Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.

The truth of this touched me deeply, and I was compelled to bring it to life. Here, the unspent love takes the form of a flower-filled boat at sea – with the bereaved searching for somewhere to bring this accumulated and overflowing love. Fortunately, after proper grieving and healing, we eventually do find avenues and people to deliver that excess love to. Including the memories of those we lost.