Tracy Jones’s competition

This painting changed everything—and not just for me. Created as a personal self-portrait through the lens of my Cancer zodiac, a key—to my own emotional evolution, and unknowingly, to my next chapter as an artist. Cancers are known for being emotional, intuitive, and deeply internal. The figure in a contemplative pose, locked in a moment of transformation. But this wasn’t just a visual metaphor—it was physically constructed that way.

• Vintage keys were embedded into the canvas—each one symbolic of paths not taken, lessons learned, and emotional gates either locked or unlocked.

• A soft LED light glows at the heart—a literal beacon representing the emotional core, often hidden but always active.

• My extended arm, crafted from foam and textured by hand, physically reaches into the canvas—holding the “correct” key. The one meant to unlock my own vortex, revealing the potential I’d carried all along.

This piece was originally submitted for a mentorship competition, and weeks later, I learned that I had won. The twist? I had already left the state by then—traveling to a music festival with this new piece strapped to the back of my setup, eager to show people something that felt like my truest expression.

Just two hours after I hung the painting at the festival, it sold. Instantly. I never got to show it to my mentor in person, A complete stranger connected with it so deeply they couldn’t walk away without it. And just like that, my most personal piece became someone else’s reflection.

Zodiac No.1- Unlocking Potential: A Self-Portrait in Motion