Last year I went on a nine-day trip to Italy. The trip had a total of thirty-two people, and within those thirty-two people, I knew only a few, and I went home with a family of nine wonderful people. I learned so much on the trip about myself and other people. My world before the trip was so much smaller than it is now. After coming home, it took a while to adjust back to my routine; to get used to not seeing those people when I woke up every morning and not being able to talk to them before we all collapse at night.

When I sifted through the thousands of photographs I took while in Italy, I did not just see photographs. I saw the shy, humble, and flamboyant personality of my friend Avery; I saw the color pallet of muted blues, yellows and reds of Venice; I saw the personality of the places and people I captured. They were far from being images to me; they where the door to stories of my trip and the key to unlocking each memory. When it came to creating art, I could not get myself to create anything that did not have to do with my trip. Those photographs and memories’ impact on me is profound and I wanted to share that impact with people.

I began to paint. At first drawing and painting Venice, the cityscape, the gondola ride, the gelato. I began picking my favorite images; they were portraits of the wonderful people I met on the trip, including my now close friends to a mozzarella farmer I’ll never forget. I harnessed this unique style and explorative use of line and color to add more interest to my pieces. I wanted them to stand out in a crowd like I feel the people do. I wanted to better express not only the beauty of the portraits, but I also wanted to express how precious they are by adding in gold leaf and embossing powder. These details help emphasize parts of the portraits and look as though gold is raining down in the streets of Italy or that her hair has pure silver highlights.

 I want to share these stories, from my lips and the lips of the people I have captured. Each storied changed me somehow. I want people to talk about them. Walt Disney became larger than life name from his ability to effectively tell stories that bled emotion, realism and a commonplace in people. It pains me to know that people today are being shunned for their differences, that so many are scared to just be themselves. I do not want anyone to feel alone; I know what it is like to have no one to talk to and I do not want that for anyone. I hope my stories can give people their own memories, to get them talking, to help people not feel so alone. Be whoever you want to be or whoever you are: be gay, be loud, be colorful, be short, be reserved, be confused, be confident, be bland, be who you are, be the person you want to be. It is impossible to please everyone, but it is very important to please yourself. Be strong and be you because look how beautiful it is when you are.

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