This week, I began working on a new piece ,an acrylic-on-canvas painting that responds to the recent earthquake that struck near Mandalay, Myanmar. As someone who still feels deeply connected to the land and its people, I felt an urge to express the emotional undercurrent of this tragedy through art.
This work-in-progress is rooted in expressionism. It’s not a literal depiction of the event, but a visual journey through its emotional landscape: shock, fear, heartbreak and, beneath it all, the quiet resilience of a community enduring hardship once again.
Step One: Underpainting – Laying the Emotion
I started with an underpainting in muted blue-grey tones. These cool, heavy layers formed the base, echoing the weight of uncertainty and sorrow that lingers after a disaster. Jagged strokes carved across the canvas, mapping invisible seismic shifts and emotional cracks. Some warm ochre hues peeked through here and there, a hint of life before the quake, or maybe, hope waiting to return.
Building the Layers: Motion and Memory
As I added more paint, I let instinct guide my palette and brushwork. Bold lines, distressed textures, and chaotic forms emerged to mimic the sudden disruption, the way everything shatters in a moment. I used palette knives and thick brushes to create motion ,like a rumble frozen in time.
The middle ground holds fragments of familiar structures, loosely sketched silhouettes of traditional Mandalay rooftops and pagoda outlines, slightly distorted, as if caught mid-shake. I wanted these to feel like memories flickering between clarity and loss.
Final Strokes: Light Breaking Through
As the painting moves toward completion, I’m slowly introducing the foreground in bold reds , a color that speaks of urgency, pain, and life persisting through trauma.
This painting is still evolving. Each day, I return to it with a different emotion, and I allow those feelings to guide the brush. It’s a process of reflection, of mourning, but also of standing in solidarity with those affected.
This is not just a canvas. It’s a tribute, a story, and a heartbeat of a people who refuse to be broken.
