When I first began painting, I naturally reached for large canvases.
Later, I challenged myself to paint smaller.
My Boy Meets Girl series is mostly 16 × 16 inches, with a few 16 × 20s and one 20 × 20.
I discovered I could paint small.
But then I painted a series of cozy cottages.
That's when I realized something.
It wasn't the size.
It was the subject.
I missed the people.
I missed the relationships.
I missed the stories.
I enjoy painting people large enough that I can notice the smallest things.
A child's tiny fingers.
The way two hands almost touch.
The way someone leans into another person.
Those details become part of the story.
Sometimes I've thought about painting a single child's hand on a small canvas.
I love children's hands.
But somehow it feels disconnected.
For me, a hand belongs to a child.
A child belongs in a relationship.
And a relationship belongs in a story.
That's why I keep returning to larger canvases.
They give the story room to breathe.