Melancholia

Melancholy is an air of pensive sadness that hovers around me and envelopes me in ways I am sometimes unaware of. It is the kind of visitor that creeps in my home but whom I welcome and allow to stay for the week anyway. It is oftentimes the place I hang out in for hours on end, and the reason why I am still a stranger to this side of the city where I live in. Then again, melancholy is my season of sowing the seeds of my most favorite flowers. After a period of mourning, it grants me another season for harvesting. I may stand oblivious at times, but melancholy brings out the best in me. Perhaps it is then true what Cuban Novelist, Italo Calvino once said, “Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness.”—and this, I couldn’t agree more.

This is my entry for @juliakponsford's Art Explosion Week 28, with the theme, "Melancholy". In this artwork, I agreeably combined digital illustration and collage (two of my favorite media to work around with). The idea that melancholy "makes me a stranger in my own home" struck me hard, hence this artwork. But then again, when I think about it, melancholy is a garden that we oftentimes take for granted. In perfect timing, it paves the way for our flowers to bloom. :)

And as always, this challenge was a fun thing to do. :)