All I wanted to do when I started this painting was to depict joy! I started with my subject, embodying that pure and radiant laughter, and let the process guide me for the rest of it. Background, flowers, texture, all unplanned, all spontaneous and all created out of just following that joy, what feels good. And as she emerged onto the canvas – color, light and texture making their way, stretching to be seen or to influence – all I could see was her. How this kind of emotion, this kind of joy is exactly like that. It’s unplanned and it’s spontaneous and happens when we allow ourselves to follow that joy, what feels good. To let it bubble up out of us, spreading that infectious light that can change everything. Because that’s what happens when drop the pretense, the “shoulds”. We Rise.