Shelter Between Blades

About this piece

Overlapping succulent leaves fill the frame with pale green, olive, and luminous orange, their serrated margins traced in red. A small striped snail nestles within this angular arrangement, offering a quiet counterpoint to the sharp edges and saturated color.

The story

I followed the red edges inward, drawn by the way each leaf concealed another. Between the broad planes of green and orange, a striped snail held to the surface, small enough to disappear at a glance. I framed it among the blades, leaving the nearest edges soft. What interested me was the contrast: a delicate body finding purchase in a place that looked, from my own scale, almost forbidding.