I try to make a self portrait every year to explore compositions and challenge myself. This year, I wanted to find a way to include both my hands. I have very long fingers and so they are naturally expressive and I wanted to use them to create a portrait that was, as I believe is the very nature of portraiture, performative yet also with a quiet, intangible quality. I wanted there to be movement but a stillness at same time. I wanted to create a layering effect by painting a sort of frame around the portrait, drawing the eye and adding to the idea that all portraits are a performance.