A Look Inside my Newest Collection
Painting the Other Side of Pain
The past few months, I’ve been working on a new collection centered around hope, growth, change, and the places, both real and imagined, that give us somewhere to escape.
The past few years, painting hasn’t always come easily to me. My mom was sick for a long time, and I lost her in November of 2024. As she got sicker, it became harder to create in the way I used to.
I really connect with the idea of painting the other side of your pain. For me, that other side was hope. That’s what made me want to step back into my studio and create again.
For this body of work, I found myself painting toward the things I wanted to believe in and surround myself with: growth, beauty, places that feel like an escape, and reminders that even when life changes completely, there are still parts of us growing and unfolding.
Painting What I Wanted to Feel
There is something really powerful about creating an image of where you want to be, even when you aren't there yet.
As I started painting more, I found myself drawn to flowers opening, butterflies, open landscapes, light, movement, and places that felt almost dreamlike.
I don't think that was accidental.
I was surrounding myself with images of hope before I necessarily knew that's what I was doing.
And I started thinking a lot about how the things we surround ourselves with affect us. The images we look at every day become part of the environment we live in. They can remind us of what we value, what we're moving toward, or how we want to feel.
That's part of why I don't think of art as simply something that fills an empty wall.
Sometimes a painting can change the way a space feels. And sometimes the things we choose to look at over and over again can slowly change something in us, too.
For me, painting these pieces became part of healing.
And one of the best feelings as the artist is knowing that something I created because I needed that reminder could eventually hang in someone else's home and become a reminder for them, too.
In Bloom
For the ones learning to bloom in their own way.
Flowers have always found their way into my work, but lately I've been thinking about them differently.
Blooming isn't one big moment where suddenly everything falls into place. There's the growing, the waiting, the seasons where it looks like nothing is happening at all, and then eventually the opening.
In Bloom is about all of it.
These pieces celebrate growth without rushing it. They're about learning to appreciate where you are while still making space for the person you're becoming.
I think there's hope in that—the idea that we don't have to have everything figured out to still be growing.
Places We Dream Of
For the ones who need somewhere to wander.
I've always loved the idea that a painting can take you somewhere.
Some of the landscapes in this collection are inspired by real places, while others exist somewhere between memory and imagination. They're less about recreating a specific view and more about capturing the feeling of being somewhere that lets you breathe a little deeper.
These pieces are about giving ourselves somewhere to wander. Somewhere to rest. Somewhere that reminds us there's still so much beyond whatever is right in front of us.
Becoming
For the ones stepping into something new.
Becoming is probably the theme that feels closest to this season of my life.
Change can be exciting, but it can also mean letting go of versions of ourselves, our lives, or our expectations that we thought we'd carry forever.
These pieces are about that space in between.
They're about transformation, freedom, releasing what no longer belongs to us, and learning to trust the person emerging on the other side.
I love the idea that becoming doesn't mean forgetting where we've been. We carry those parts with us. They just become part of something new.
Giving Older Work a New Life
Alongside the new paintings, I also brought back some older pieces that I still really love and gave them a new life through custom framing.
I chose the frames and matting specifically for each piece, pulling from colors and details within the artwork so that everything feels connected.
I really wanted the frame to feel like more than something surrounding the painting. It's part of the artwork's final presentation.
The right frame can bring out a color you may not have noticed before, give the painting room to breathe, and completely change the way the piece feels in a space.
Seeing some of my older work presented this way made me appreciate those pieces all over again.
An Image of Hope on Your Walls
I don't think healing means getting to a place where the hard things don't hurt anymore.
For me, it's been about realizing grief, beauty, growth, excitement, sadness, and hope can all exist at the same time.
This collection came out of finding my way back to creating and choosing to surround myself with images of what I wanted to keep believing in.
Flowers will bloom again.
There are still beautiful places I haven't seen.
I'm still becoming.
These paintings gave me those reminders while they surrounded me in my studio. And now I get to send them out into the world and hope they become something meaningful to someone else.
Maybe a painting won't change your life.
But I do believe what we surround ourselves with matters.
And I love the thought that one of these pieces might become a small, everyday reminder on someone's wall that there is still something beautiful ahead.
Thanks for reading,
Megan
EXPLORE MORE OF THE COLLECTION
A small escape for the days you wish you could disappear somewhere by the sea.
This mixed media piece holds the feeling of standing at the edge of the ocean and letting everything else become quiet. Where the horizon stretches endlessly ahead, the clouds drift slowly above the water, and for a moment, there is nowhere else you need to be.
Painted somewhere between memory and imagination, this expressive seascape is less about a specific place and more about the feeling the ocean gives us. The openness, the stillness, and the way looking out across the water can make the world feel a little bigger.
Details
Original mixed media painting on canvas
Created with archival-quality paints and materials
Dimensions: 12”x12” canvas, ready to hang
Canvas frame can be added if preferred — Email me at hello@meganwalshart.com.
Signed by Megan Walsh
Created in 2026
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