This painting is what I call a 'mosaic portrait'. It is a contemporary style portrait painted using traditional painting techniques. In this piece we are looking at my young son through a mosaic of cotton. I am seeing him and through the lens of our family history. My son shares many of the qualities of his great grandmother who grew up picking cotton. By the time she was 14, she was picking 400 lbs a day. Instead of being bitter about her hard upbringing, she always chose to try to contribute beauty to the world and had a close connection with nature. These are character traits I see passed on to my son.