I came to the canvas planning to paint myself as I am. A realistic portrait. Something I could point to and say: that's me.
By the end, I wasn't sure that's possible. The realism fell away and something else took over. No face. A halo that doesn't comfort. A body coming apart and holding together at the same time.
The original pencil sketch is still visible underneath. I left it there on purpose — to show where I started and what got buried in the process. The palette is three colors only: blue, red, and white. Paint was scraped, lifted, and worked back into the surface, layer beneath layer, each one still present.
Something truer got in the way. I hope others can see themselves in it, their own reflection. This is the first painting from my "Cura Anima" series — Care of Soul.