Suddenly.

The first time I painted a human and all the features looked proportionate. Still very proud of this one, because I painted it directly on a plain canvas with just red, white and blue acrylics. What I'm not proud of is this was supposed to be Noah Centineo, the netflix romcom guy who suddenly went viral after a few chickflicks, but it's okay, we celebrate small wins, like getting proportions right.

I've always loved painting and drawing people - known and unknown, real and fictional. Because when you draw them, you see them. Everything around you turns to white noise and leaves you frozen thinking: who are you?

You wonder what their family is like; you wonder what kind of relationship they share with their parents; you wonder if they came from a happy home, or a home that made them grow up too young too fast; you wonder where they wish to go and who they wish to be; you wonder if they also yearn to be romantically pursued by someone; you wonder if they also cry when they can't explain why and you wonder if they also hide it because who doesn't cry; you wonder whose smile they've inherited; you wonder if their shirt was picked by a friend and you wonder where they'll go and you wonder who they'll see. And then in the midst of all this wondering you suddenly realise how small and fleeting our moments are because the moment you've captured in your drawing or painting is suddenly long gone and can never be perfectly recreated or brought back again. And suddenly you feel a sudden gush of empathy for this person and the suddeness of it all will suddenly leave you in a state of quietness. And then suddenly, the sounds come back into focus, and things start moving, and your brain stops thinking, and you get back to your life. Suddenly.