Sure, breaking up is hard to do. There are the tears, the tipsy texting, the obsessive MySpace stalking. (Not to mention the always grim Exchange of Stuff.)

Then again, there’s nothing like heartbreak to jump-start a change of plan. Just ask Portland-based artist Trish Grantham, who took up painting as a distraction after a particularly nasty split.

After leaving her ex in Austin and relocating to the Northwest, the former waitress hit a stroke of luck. She was discovered at a party and found herself holding her first sold-out show within months.

But don’t hate the girl (too much). Her work is addictively winsome, combining Japanese pop-style characters, vintage paper, and a resin finish.

Choose from her gallery of vignettes (a melancholy panda framed by cherry blossoms, deer with flowers for antlers) or commission an original piece. She has an uncanny ability to mix childlike sweetness with intelligence that’s totally adult.

Something to which you’ll gladly commit.

Available online at trishgrantham.com.