Painting by Aimee Hou 8 Artworks Sold

Self Portrait Absent

Acrylic, Canvas, Ready to hang

80cm (W) x 100cm (H) x 3cm (D)

Original Artwork

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Artwork only · unframed

A$1,380

Unframed

Estimated Arrival: 22–24th October

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Artwork Description

There is no one in this painting. Look closer.
Self-Portrait, Absent is a night scene from my own studio: the work lamp still on, a silver kettle, a mug of tea gone cold, brushes and a palette resting at the edge of the light. But hidden in the kettle’s curved reflection is a small figure - a woman with her hair pinned up, seated at an easel. That is me.
Four hundred years ago, women painters like Clara Peeters were rarely permitted formal self-portraits, so they hid themselves in the reflections of their still lifes. This painting is my letter back to them: I am here, even when I am not shown.
Acrylic on canvas, 80 × 100cm portrait format, warm umber and gold palette in the spirit of the Dutch masters. Gallery-depth stretcher with painted edges - ready to hang, no frame needed. A painting that rewards the second look, and the tenth.

Artist Bio

I’m a Sydney-based artist and mother of four. Painting has been part of my life since I was six years old, but it became something profoundly different after the birth of my fourth son, Aaron.

Aaron was born with complex additional needs, and the months that followed changed every part of my life. Alongside the demands of caring for him, I experienced a long and ongoing journey through postpartum depression. There were times when I felt as though I had slipped beneath the surface of deep water—unable to breathe, unable to see a way back, searching desperately for light.

When I found myself unable to express those emotions in words, I returned to painting.

What began as a way to survive gradually became a way to heal.

Night after night, after my children had fallen asleep, I stood quietly before a blank canvas. Each layer of paint carried emotions I could not speak aloud. Slowly, those heavy feelings transformed into atmosphere, texture, colour, and light. Painting did not erase the darkness, but it gave me somewhere to place it.

That experience continues to shape everything I create.

Across my work, light is never simply illumination. It is a symbol of hope without certainty, peace without perfection, and freedom that is often found quietly rather than dramatically. I am drawn to expansive spaces, restrained colour palettes, soft transitions, and moments where silence feels almost tangible. Rather than telling literal stories, my paintings invite viewers to pause, breathe, and discover their own emotional landscape.

Although each collection explores a different visual language, they are united by the same intention: a search for light.

I don’t paint because I have found it.

I paint because I am still looking.

Commissions

Aimee's studio is in Australia