She is cool and magical from a distance. That is how I first saw her. A figure searching, not for something external, but for herself. For her soul.

This painting is called Blue Obsidian. It is part of my Masquerade series, which explores the masks we wear and the truths we bury beneath them. In this piece I wanted to capture the ache of longing and the feeling of being lost.

The quiet desperation of wondering who I might be without all the stuff. Without the trauma. Without the abuse.

I named my soul self Blue Obsidian. A rare stone. Dark and luminous. Strong and fragile. I imagined her as someone I had lost. Someone I was trying to find.

Her face is black and blue. Bruises that are slowly healing. Her skin carries raised calluses and whip scars. Her hair is white from shock. She is not broken, but she is marked. She is not gone, but she is hidden.

Where are you, Blue. Where are you.

This painting is a cry. A spell. A portrait of the search. It is about the distance between who I am and who I once was. It is about the silence that follows pain and the magic that remains despite it.

In Blue Obsidian I honour the soul that survived. The soul that still glows beneath the surface. The soul that is waiting to be seen.