When I am told I am beautiful, I often reply, “And that is the least interesting thing about me.” My work carries that same insistence.

I create work that lives in the quiet tension between beauty and damage, tenderness and endurance. My drawings explore what it means to exist after trauma—not only the rupture, but the long stillness of living with it and the slow, deliberate act of repair.

Working in colored pencil on wood and paper, I take familiar, decorative imagery — flowers, skulls, figures, birds — and build it, layer by layer, into something that resists being merely seen. The hand-made mark is elevated until it reads as painting. Animals and other symbolic objects recur alongside these, acting as visual language for cycles of life, death, memory, and renewal — carefully chosen and researched, drawn from personal experience, dream imagery, and cultural symbolism.

While my work is rooted in lived experience, it is not a confessional act. Instead, it is an offering of recognition. The figures and still-lifes I create hold space for contradiction: softness alongside strength, joy alongside grief, beauty that does not erase what came before it. The presence of skulls and vibrant color speaks to this duality—reminders that survival and delight can coexist.

In recent work, I have expanded beyond my own narrative by incorporating the stories of others, translating shared experiences of harm, resilience, and healing into visual form. Through this process, my work becomes a place of connection—quiet, honest, and unapologetically human.

I want viewers to feel seen, grounded, and invited to sit with complexity. There is no urgency here—only presence.

Social Media Links:
website: https://ambermarie.art
IG: @ambermarieart
FB: @artistambermarie
Tiktok: @ambermarie.art
Threads: @ambermarieart
Twitch: @ambermarieart