Sometimes it's the smallest detail.
For me, it was a little boy trying to get his toe into a bucket of soapy water.
Not the bucket.
Not the bubbles.
His curiosity.
He was completely absorbed in one simple idea.
"Can I get my toe in there?"
When I looked at the photograph, that was the first thing I noticed.
Not his face.
Not the light.
Not the composition.
His toe.
That's why I chose this photograph to paint.
Once I stayed with it, I began noticing everything else.
His tiny fingers.
The soap bubble still clinging to his hand.
The warm light behind him.
The little puppy quietly watching from a distance.
Every time I walk past this painting, I notice something different.
Years later, I still find myself remembering my own grandmother.
A dishpan.
Soap bubbles.
Kitchen utensils.
Simple afternoons that seemed ordinary at the time.
Now I realize they weren't ordinary at all.
They were the moments that stayed with me.
That's the kind of photograph I'm always looking for. One that tells a story without words.
What ordinary moment still stays with you?