"This piece, is something very different from what I usually do. Since coming back to the studio after my birthday, I've been actively exploring the idea of play. I've been making an effort to respect my body and not let my mind interfere with what I'm creating, intentionally bringing a sense of freedom to the studio. This painting sat on my wall for the past couple of months without me knowing where to go with it. Once I let things flow, I finished it in just one day.

There is a sentiment here of being in a state or a moment of "in-between," like those nights when you sit with your loved ones at home, with a bottle of wine, and the atmosphere becomes suspended in the air, almost as if time couldn't touch the moment you're living. Those in-between moments where gratitude and sorrow fill your cup at the same time, I think the word to describe this is a sense of bittersweetness.

Bottles usually symbolize vessels of memory, of thought; they hold a message, a moment. We often believe the past, present, and future don't intersect, that this progress is linear, but when we take a moment to reflect, we see that they are all part of the same thing, all encapsulated in the bottle that is you and me. Every time I look at this piece, I like it more and more. Like a message in a bottle, with every glance, I seem to discover a new message, a new reason why this piece speaks to me." -Antonia xx