It was true serendipity that, amidst the confusion of March 9th, I managed to convince Ms.Walsh to take this work home with me for the break. The portrait depicts my grandfather; Paul Smith. He passed away some years ago with a vast material legacy - composed of all the antiques he collected over the years, and stories he eternalized in words and pictures. However, his legacy lacks what I consider to be the most effective means of honouring someone; a portrait. Not a photograph, but a painting that has evidently been laboured over for some time- every detail of his appearance rendered minutely, as so the final product can be hung, with confidence, to salute his memory  Thus, I attempted to recapture him in a painting. This was a difficult task, as, although I possessed scores of photos, his personality was immense and multilayered - tricky to document in a two dimensional portrait by an amateur artist. I turned to the impressionist movement for inspiration. Egon Schiele, in particular, acted as a foundation. I dove into the act of painting; making sweeping brushstrokes across the page to match what I observed in photographs. Every class, I deconstructed his face into shadows and light; renders it on paper, only to paint over it the next class. This allowed me to build up layers that reflected his personality. Along with staying true to his physical appearance, I attempted to show his character - his tendency to dream revealed by a gleam in his eyes, and slight madness demonstrated by the vibrant colours and haphazard brush strokes. The final product is painterly; textured, and bearing the sense that it is not quite finished. I like this unfinished feeling, however. As my Papa, like myself, was a perfectionist who loathed finishing projects. It felt good to hang this portrait in my room - glorying its imperfect state.