"Sisyphus – Rolling up the Gravestone of a Dead Relationship"

20”x24” encaustic, 2023 April. Once again inspired by the magnificent Yosemite National Park. In order to find closure, Sisyphus is trying to roll uphills "her" hardened heart - the gravestone of her relationship -, but the heavy rock keeps rolling back, making this effort become an eternal struggle; a curse from "God". The couple has turned into a rock formation crying waterfalls, symbolizing prolonged grief after their relationship died.

I enjoyed reading this article on The Marginalian about despair:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2017/05/30/freedom-and-destiny-rollo-may-despair-joy/

It starts with a quote from Rollo May: “Joy… follows rightly confronted despair. Joy is the experience of possibility, the consciousness of one’s freedom as one confronts one’s destiny… After despair, the one thing left is possibility.”