Nostalgic Summer

I painted Nostalgic Summer while thinking about how time reshapes memory.

My childhood was not an easy one. My father stopped coming home when I was six, and a few years later my parents divorced. My mother worked nights to support us, leaving my younger sister and me alone. I carried the responsibility of caring for my sister. What I remember most from that time is the loneliness.

And yet, when I look back now, certain moments return with unexpected warmth.

Summer days at the school pool. Lemonade. Afternoon naps in a cool room. Watching television with my sister at night. Brief dinners at a department store before my mother left for work. At the time, these moments felt ordinary, almost unnoticed. Years later, they feel tender and strangely precious.

While I was painting, I found myself drawn to bright yellows and playful, abstract forms. They weren’t meant to recreate specific scenes. They were a way of holding the feeling of those summers — a mix of loneliness and ordinary days, softened over time.

Nostalgic Summer came from that space.

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