There is a thought that has accompanied me for years while painting: what if our bodies are not who we are, but simply the vessels through which we experience life? When we look at ourselves in the mirror, it is easy to identify with the physical form we see. We become attached to our appearance, our age, our successes, our wounds, and the stories we tell about ourselves. Yet beneath all of these layers lies a deeper truth. The human body is a temporary home, an extraordinary

This preparatory piece serves as a quiet meditation — the first breath, the initial gesture — toward what would later become The Quiet...