The Making of a Warrior

This commissioned portrait began as a quiet study in graphite — a single reference image from an American cultural-history textbook that captured the strength and dignity of an Indigenous man in traditional regalia. What followed was a gradual unfolding: form becoming shadow, shadow becoming flesh, and colour breathing life into expression.

Rather than showing only the finished painting, I wanted to share the journey behind it. Each stage reveals another layer of intention — the structural sketch, the early tonal work, the building of texture, and finally the richness and depth of the completed piece, framed and alive.

This is a glimpse into how a portrait grows: not in a single moment, but through many decisions, revisions and instinctive movements of the palette knife