This group of portraits are separate from my commissioned portraiture. Commissioned work tends to fulfill the buyer’s vision of what the art should be rather than the artist's expression. In every portrait I paint for myself, I attempt to give the viewer a sense of the model’s persona, implying that I must have a personal relationship with those I choose to paint. This presents a special challange because, often times, a portrait says more about the artist than it does about the model. Every choice made about how to present the model is usually the artist’s decision. So you end up seeing the model as understood by the artist.