Grapple 4 (The Burden) Mixed Media Animal Painting

A monumental elephant, rendered in smoky washes and stippled shadows, curls into itself like a landscape of memory—its mass both protective and burdened, as if carrying an unspoken history within the folds of its skin. Beneath it, the small human figure with outstretched arms becomes a quiet counterpoint: a gesture of supplication, embrace, or defiant empathy that bridges the vast difference in scale. The muted, dust-toned ground—marked by repetitive, stitched-like textures—evokes a scarred terrain where tenderness must be rebuilt, while small flashes of pink puncture the restraint like fragile signs of life. In this suspended space, the work reads as a meditation on intimacy with the immense: how vulnerability negotiates with power, and how reverence can still be an act of closeness rather than fear.