emeraldbarkley

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thanks for sharing my work - and for crediting me too <3 <3 <3

Quiet by Emerald Barkley

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This Hope Has a Sharp Edge by Emerald Barkley

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The Weight of Memory by Emerald Barkley

The Weight of Memory is an original watercolor skull painting by Emerald Barkley about the quiet and suffocating nature of anxiety.

I often think about my anxiety in terms of birds and feathers – quick, fluttering, quietly suffocating. A thunderous whisper in my heart and in my throat, and an overlay to any experience.

A good trick that I have learned is to ground myself in the present moment with my senses. What am I seeing, smelling, feeling, tasting, hearing?

Even as I ground, two feet firmly present in the sense of now, there is a memory of a throat full of feathers.

The Weight of Memory is  9.5″ x 12″ original watercolor and ink painting on Arches hot-pressed paper. This piece will ship unframed.

More originals on EDO:

Quiet: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/quiet-2/ These Slow Moments, They Writhe: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/these-slow-moments-they-writhe/ These Teeth That Gnash: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/these-teeth-that-gnash/

Other ways to collect my work:

Originals: https://www.emeraldbarkley.com/shop/original-artwork Prints: https://www.emeraldbarkley.com/shop/prints Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emeraldbarkley

Stay in touch: instagram: @emeraldbarkley tiktok: @emeraldbarkley

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by Emerald Barkley

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To Cultivate a Soft and Tender Place by Emerald Barkley

To Cultivate a Soft and Tender Place By Emerald Barkley

To Cultivate a Soft and Tender place is an original watercolor skull painting by Emerald Barkley about the need to be radically kind to ourselves.

In the last few years, I have spent a lot of time thinking about space. The space in my home for instance: How do I want to feel when I am home? What can I do, aesthetically and functionally, to feel like this is a good space where I can be safe, comfortable, and inspired?

This got me to thinking about community, particularly: How can I do the same thing with the people that I love? How can I not only communicate love, generosity, and safety in community spaces that I share, but as a person within that community? What do I need to build trust and beauty?

The kicker for me is turning that thinking inward: What can I do to build trust and beauty in myself? I seem to default to an anxious state full of catastrophic narratives and the lonely mountain of Never Good Enough. It’s a false mountain, built on 4am dread and the smoke of anxious narratives.

And I don’t need it. Neither do you.

This piece is about slowly, gently reclaiming that space and building a garden. Of learning how to tell yourself that it is going to be fine, that you are good at things, and you are even good at hard things. To cultivate radical softness in your mind and in your body, and to remember that you, too, are a lush and beautiful thing.

This piece is a study for a larger work.

To Cultivate a Soft and Tender Place is a 10″ x 12.5″ original watercolor skull painting on Arches hot-pressed paper. This piece will ship unframed.

More original watercolor paintings on EDO:

Quiet: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/quiet-2/ These Slow Moments, They Writhe: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/these-slow-moments-they-writhe/ These Teeth That Gnash: https://everydayoriginal.com/product/these-teeth-that-gnash/

Other ways to collect my watercolor skull work:

Originals: https://www.emeraldbarkley.com/shop/original-artwork Prints: https://www.emeraldbarkley.com/shop/prints Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emeraldbarkley

Stay in touch: instagram: @emeraldbarkley tiktok: @emeraldbarkley

VIEW DETAILS brought to you by Every Day Original

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Works by Emerald Barkley

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Dreamscapes by Emerald Barkley

“Dreamscapes”

How do we cultivate a lush, vibrant imagination in the face of burnout?

Watercolor, ink, and just a touch of gouache on 300 lb. Arches hot-pressed paper. Dimensions are 9.5″ x 12″

This painting will ship unframed.

VIEW DETAILS brought to you by Every Day Original

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A Tender Act of Rebellion

By Emerald Barkley

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red queen

one of my crystal skulls from 2020

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red

one of my crystal skulls from 2020

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Pink

one of my crystal skulls from 2020

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In my life, I operate under the idea that our hearts are small treasures that need to be kept shiny, burnished by our own hand and by the people we love.

Our Deepest Spaces Glow Like A Hundred Thousand Stars is a watercolor piece about how that small, quiet piece of ourselves that is buried deep within shines so brightly that it lights up the night sky. I like to think that we can see that light glowing through our eyes, and I believe that that glow influences the way that we see the world around us.

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green

one of my crystal skulls from 2020

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Grey

One of my crystal skulls from 2020.

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Collected Identity is a watercolor painting about the curious human habit to collect identities, and the tendency to frame our definitions and behavior around those identities. More and more I find myself seeking to push against the boundaries of a definition that I have given myself.

How do our definitions give us stability? And how do they suffocate us?

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Blue

A crystal skull from 2020. I did these as a one week challenge to paint a crystal skull every day. I always loved this one.