Growing up in New York, I spent hours at the Met and in galleries across the city, drawn to the Old Masters—paintings built from light and shadow, intricate detail, and vivid color. There, my fascination with painting began, as I surrendered to a curiosity about the methods used centuries ago.

This piece traces a single gesture across three panels, moving from a tempera and oil underpainting to a fully realized presence in oil. Leather, lace, and shadow tighten into focus—an homage to Titian’s portraits and their drama of light. A fragment stands in for the sitter, inviting slow looking and quiet reflections on touch, status, and time.