The Stories We Tell Ourselves

"The Stories We Tell Ourselves"
Acrylic & graphite on canvas
24 x 36 x 1.5 in

This painting is deceptively simple, but also has such emotional depth. The beige background like aging paper, the handwritten ode in graphite reminds us of the beauty of something handwritten in an age where everything is digital. There's something so personal about communicating by writing, an intimate form of bearing one's heart and soul to another by the page. 

This painting gives us pause. It reminds the viewer that we are not characters in our own life... we are the writers of our own story. We are all co-creators in this life. 

Here's the accompanying poem:

"The stories we tell ourselves
are just that

They aren’t truths
They aren’t facts
For better
or worse

The good news is
We can always change the stories

We are not the characters in them
We are the writers of them"

This painting was featured in Laura Mitsu's debut solo exhibition "Poetic Abstraction" in April-May 2024 in San Francisco, CA.