Oil on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

If you could go back and speak to your younger self what would you say? Would it be words of advice? of anger? of caution? or perhaps of encouragement?

This work is intensely personal so I'll be honest I don't give a damn if people don't like it, its for me and me alone...maybe it will ring true with someone else but this work is by me as a message for young me.
For the majority of my young life I was not encouraged to do art, at least not in the capacity I wanted to. For some they discouraged because they didn't understand, for others they were purely selfish and just wanted me to remain under their thumb, and some they feared risk and seeing me fail. So I turned that in on myself, I believed i wasn't of value, that my talent was too risky to be of use or of worth to remain a part of my life...that was a mistake and I wish i'd listened more to people who encouraged me than those who sought to hold me back or redirect me. It was torture for the longest time and very nearly sent me down a dark road...it took me a long time to figure out that the only person who was going to provide the encouragement I needed to become who I wanted to be was in fact going to be me. I think a lot of young people feel that way nowadays.

This artwork is me showing the messages I needed to hear as a child, the lessons that I would've benefited from early on, and the encouragement to take a risk rather than shy away from my abilities.

A pep from the man I am now to the weird little scared kid I was back then. The message on the outer edge of the canvas is to me...or perhaps to others like me.

Its the risk takers that make this world beautiful, never discourage that.