This painting began as a single arc—fluid, open, and intuitive. A gesture of memory, holding space for what I used to be.

As the tree emerged, I added more—shadows, softness, uncertain lines. I thought I had ruined it. But in that unraveling, I saw something truer: how we carry both the shape we were and the becoming we are.

This is a self-portrait in presence. A quiet moment of reflection before the bloom.