Button Up

Mixed Media Painting 8” x 10” on Wood Board (2026)

Acrylic, Watercolor Pencil, & Alcohol Marker.

"Button Up" was a self portrait created for and submitted to the ART 350 "This is Not A Self-Portrait" exhibition. In this painting I wanted to reflect on how I view myself, more specifically my struggles with paranoid anxiety. Often times, I fear irrationally about what others think about me behind my back, this paranoia is personified through the warping shirt around my face. Similarly, I also feel like it can be self-centered to be worried about my perception in the eyes of others, as I am undoubtedly not very significant in their lives. This anxiety seems obnoxious to me and what is more self-absorbed than wearing a shirt with your face on it?