Conveying the essence of my subject is paramount to the success of every portrait. I want to meld the physical and spiritual characteristics of my subject into the most telling of portrait paintings possible. My inspiration is drawn from the art of the great academic masters, such as Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Sir Henry Raeburn, Ingres, J. L. David, Wm. M. Paxton and most importantly William Adolphe Bouguereau. My challenge, as an artist, is to live up to their standard of excellence. Michelangelo said the greater danger is not that our hopes are too high and we fail to reach them : it's that they're too low and we do.