Early Portrait Work

Portraits were where I spent quite some time early on. I made ten or so, maybe more, and I gave every single one away. They were never meant to be kept. Most were drawn from photographs, as I wasn’t working from live sittings at the time. My style was also not yet mature. The subjects were people close to me: friends, romantic relationships, people I shared real moments and chapters with. Even working from images, the process felt intimate. I lingered over faces I already knew, letting memory and feeling guide the line.

I cherish these portraits now as memories more than objects. Each one holds a relationship, a specific time, a version of myself that no longer exists in quite the same way. Giving them away felt natural, like returning something that was never fully mine to keep. Looking back, these works taught me how to really look at people, how emotion shapes form, and how connection can live quietly inside a drawing.