Inner Glow

I painted this shell because I recognized it. The coil tightens toward a center that has become unreachable — not by accident, but by repetition. Each turn a reasonable response to something. Each turn making the next one easier.

The orange inside is not a reward for getting close. It is evidence of what the closing off costs.

I'm not interested in whether the shell knows this. I'm interested in the person who hangs this on their wall and looks at it every morning before they go out and present their exterior to the world. What they recognize in it. Whether that recognition is a comfort or a question.

The dark around it doesn't judge. It simply shows us what is visible from the outside: a surface that has learned to hold light without releasing it.