Etherton Gallery

This is a painting of the well-known artist, Mauricio Toussaint. 18x24 inches, oil on canvas mounted on panel. The artist's requests for this commission were that I keep the size relatively small and to leave enough canvas area around the portrait so it may be trimmed to size, if desired. After meeting the artist, I got a feel that he was a spiritual being and that he was closely connected to his own art. I wanted to get this across in the portrait. Rather than having just a static portrait of the person, I wanted to introduce a bit of esoterics and integrate the artists own artwork into the painting. The elements surounding the figure are elements from various paintings by Mauricio. The lighting and the text integrated help give it a spiritual feel. The text is Greek for, "true to thyself". I chose these words because I felt the look of his painting was raw and honest to himself. I admire when an artist has the ability to filter as little as possible the ideas that come through his or her being.