Cross Roads

$30.00

Crossroads is about that paralyzing, confusing moment when you know something’s wrong inside you — but you don’t yet have the words to explain it. I created this piece to reflect the disorientation that often comes with PTSD and TBI. For years, I didn’t have a name for the feelings, the triggers, the breakdowns — just chaos I couldn’t untangle. But understanding begins with knowledge, and for many of us, it starts when someone gives us a definition. This painting represents that exact point: standing at the edge of understanding, when the words finally start to make sense, but the emotions still swirl like fire and fog.

In the background, printed clinical text defines post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury in detail — a wall of information that feels overwhelming but vital. In the foreground, a distorted, anguished face stares forward with wide, desperate eyes, mouth agape in fear, pain, or disbelief. The figure’s raised arms appear warped and stretched, as if caught between drowning and reaching out for help. The entire composition is symbolic — caught between comprehension and confusion.

The color palette is raw and intentionally jarring: burnt oranges and fiery reds dominate the bottom half, evoking chaos and emotional heat, while the face is painted in earthy yellows and dark browns that highlight strain and exhaustion. Electric blues in the eyes and background water offer brief contrast — a flicker of clarity in the madness. The left and right backgrounds are divided — gray text meets vivid red, symbolizing the clash between sterile medical explanation and lived emotional trauma.

The style is expressive and surreal, with clear nods to artists like Salvador Dalí — exaggerated forms, melting limbs, dreamlike distortion — yet grounded in a deeply personal narrative. This painting is not just an image, but a cry for clarity from someone at the threshold of diagnosis, understanding, and ultimately, healing.

Crossroads is about that paralyzing, confusing moment when you know something’s wrong inside you — but you don’t yet have the words to explain it. I created this piece to reflect the disorientation that often comes with PTSD and TBI. For years, I didn’t have a name for the feelings, the triggers, the breakdowns — just chaos I couldn’t untangle. But understanding begins with knowledge, and for many of us, it starts when someone gives us a definition. This painting represents that exact point: standing at the edge of understanding, when the words finally start to make sense, but the emotions still swirl like fire and fog.

In the background, printed clinical text defines post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury in detail — a wall of information that feels overwhelming but vital. In the foreground, a distorted, anguished face stares forward with wide, desperate eyes, mouth agape in fear, pain, or disbelief. The figure’s raised arms appear warped and stretched, as if caught between drowning and reaching out for help. The entire composition is symbolic — caught between comprehension and confusion.

The color palette is raw and intentionally jarring: burnt oranges and fiery reds dominate the bottom half, evoking chaos and emotional heat, while the face is painted in earthy yellows and dark browns that highlight strain and exhaustion. Electric blues in the eyes and background water offer brief contrast — a flicker of clarity in the madness. The left and right backgrounds are divided — gray text meets vivid red, symbolizing the clash between sterile medical explanation and lived emotional trauma.

The style is expressive and surreal, with clear nods to artists like Salvador Dalí — exaggerated forms, melting limbs, dreamlike distortion — yet grounded in a deeply personal narrative. This painting is not just an image, but a cry for clarity from someone at the threshold of diagnosis, understanding, and ultimately, healing.