2024. Oil on canvas. 36" x 60"
 
This painting is of a fellow Rochester Artist Collaborative member, Wanya Simmons. He's depicted smiling at the High Falls overlook in Rochester, NY. I believe it's important to paint people with an environment and objects around them. So I asked Wanya where is somewhere important to him, and he said High Falls park because it helps him feel at ease.
 
This was my first time painting other artists. A lot of my work is inspired by art history. Around the time of this painting, I had been thinking a lot about Courbet's "The Painter's Studio" and how he included other artist/philosopher friends in that piece representing influences. I also was thinking about how impressionists would do paintings of each other as well.