11/03/2025
I was still just a kid when I was commissioned to create this portraitâone of my very first.
Looking at it now, I canât help but see all the things I would do differently. The details I would refine. The skill Iâve gained since then that I wish I could apply to it now.
But this piece wasnât about technical perfection. It was about presence.
This portrait of Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Brown was created to honor his life and sacrifice. It became part of a memorial spaceâsomething his family, fellow soldiers, and future recruits would see for years to come.
And at the time, I donât think I fully grasped the weight of that.
I was still finding my place as an artist, still discovering what my work would mean in the world. I just knew that drawing people made me feel something. That a portrait could be more than just an imageâit could be a memory made tangible.
Now, looking back, I realize:
⨠Art isnât always about technical mastery. Itâs about the feeling it carries.
⨠Itâs about giving someone a way to hold onto a moment, a person, a presence.
⨠Itâs about ensuring stories arenât lost to time.
And even though my skill has evolved, even though I could create something far more refined today, I wouldnât change the fact that this beautiful portrait exists.
Because it showed me, even back then, what I was truly meant to do.
What do you see when you look at this portrait? Because when I look at it, I see both my early skill and the artist I was becoming. Tell me what stands out to you. â¤ď¸
