False Shelter

Oil paint on panel, 16 x 16", 2025

A fawn cuddled up next to a plastic target practice deer. A shelter, a quiet companion, a search for something familiar. There’s a tenderness in that confusion, a longing for protection even in hollow forms. This painting reflects how I often felt as a child, reaching for comfort in places that couldn’t truly hold me, clinging to symbols of safety in a world that felt unpredictable and frightening. Whether real or fake, these protectors gave me something to attach to, a fragile illusion of security that helped me survive.