I try to approach every painting with an open mind. This painting went through long and hard growing pains. This was not by choice. I just never know what it will take for me to learn the language of any single work. Sometimes a long engagement produces an intimacy with a work from all of the touching and growing. I feel a strong connection to this painting. We have been through something together. I also feel a strong connection to the sitter. It is my fiancée Catherine Richards.