Expressionist Portraits

Acrylic on canvas

This series presents acrylic portraits on canvas of several of my most influential teachers, alongside three self-portraits. In each work, my goal was not only to capture a likeness, but to convey personality through expression, distinctive features, hair, clothing, and especially the eyes, which I spend the most time refining because they hold the most emotion and presence. Buckley is the place where I spend most of my life outside my home, and the teachers I portray here have shaped the way I think, learn, and grow: Ms. Swann, Ms. Colon, Madame Hadad, Mr. Dominguez, Mr. O’Melia, Ms. Robinson, and Ms. Tewes. I have been drawing and painting since early childhood, beginning with classes at the Met and the Guggenheim when I was three, and portraiture has always felt personal to me because it combines observation with memory. These paintings are my way of honoring the people who have guided me, and of showing that a portrait can represent not just how someone looks, but the impact they leave behind.