The two paintings below are portraits of my brother and show my progression over a 10 year period of time.  My brother turned 30 this year and I recently finished a portrait of him in my spare time.  I don't have an exact date on the first portrait (on the left) because I never actually finished it.  I remember working on it and being so frustrated that I couldn't finish and sign it; I remember thinking how difficult oil painting is.
​  I started oil painting when I was about 15, but I had always loved drawing since I was a little kid.  I remember doing portrait drawings of my meema when I was about 9 years old.  Portraits have always been my favorite and I'm really glad I kept the old portrait of my brother to show my progress.  It's also cool to see how my own painting style has changed, but I can still tell I painted both portraits.  Seeing my brother age between the two portraits is also eye-opening.
  I want to say to anyone trying to improve with some kind of skill, whether it's painting and drawing or music, dancing, skateboarding, weight lifting, writing, sports or whatever you're passionate about: Never Give Up.  Sometimes it's hard to see improvements because they happen slowly, but remember that even baby steps will move you forward.

  I just finished and put my signature on this portrait of my brother, Chris.  I'm really proud of it and now I'm going to wait for it to dry so I can varnish it and photograph it.  I really like the expression that I captured in this portrait and the way I painted his eyes.  It's hard to see in the photos, but his eyes are a hazel color with a specific color of green that I painted;  I always love painting eyes.  My brother's in San Fransisco now and I can't wait to show this to him when he returns.

  I worked tonight on some sample sketches for an upcoming commission that I'm working on.  I always love sketching with a purpose and watercolor is one of my favorite sketching media.  I'll share my progress as I keep working.  I'm also almost finished with the portrait of my brother, Chris.  I'll share more photos of that painting very soon!

  I'm almost done with this portrait of my brother.   I'm going to work  a little more on it before I sign it.  There were a lot of fun textures to paint in this portrait  like his hair, leather jacket and the buttons and pattern on his shirt.  I love portraits so much and I can't wait to work on a new one soon.