Painting someone's story

I just finished working on a commission piece. It took so much out of me; it brought me such joy to do it.

Like all of my work, I paint to capture emotion. Emotion of a moment, emotion of a life.

I don't just paint faces. I paint the story. The young man who offered me this chance told me his story and that story, his incredible story guided my brush. Each piece of the painting is a different part of him, the parts that make him whole.

He is as happy as I am and I am over the moon.

We are not our faces, the skin we wear. We are the stories inside of us.