If you choose to own this, you're not just collecting art, you're holding a piece of my truth.
 
This drawing is one of the most personal and vulnerable pieces I've ever created. It's about the invisible weight I've carried through years of autistic masking; learning to survive by borrowing bits of others, softening myself, blending in, and slowly erasing parts of who I am just to seem "normal".
 
"Softly Erased" is a self portrait, but it's much more than just my face under plastic. It's a visual expression of the anxiety, the exhaustion, burnout, and silent pain of never fully being able to unmask. With this piece, I am publicly, vulnerably, and proudly announcing that I am autistic.
 
What was used to create this piece:
Strathmore 500 series - 20 ply, vellum illistration board. (20 ply sheets of paper combined into one board like sheet, so thick and high quality that this piece cannot be rolled or bent. It would be shipped flat.)
Black pastel, a range of my own charcoal powders, graphite pencils, carbon, white charcoal, and white acrylic pen.
Finished and protected with a fine art fixative spray.