Moxie, Oil on canvas, 16 x 20, Lynchburg VA
When I spoke to Moxie’s mom Liz or the first time, I understood how much she loves her son. He had some health ordeals that no child should have to endure, yet he had and had come out on the other side as a strong little boy appropriately named.
Although he was only 3 1/2 at the time, Moxie had epilepsy and already had to undergo brain surgery. I can’t imagine what Liz and her husband had to go through, but I know that she wanted to capture his personality and honor him in a portrait that expressed her love for Moxie. Liz was confident her son would be OK, and his “moxie” would pull him through.
With each portrait I paint, I try to capture the child’s personality and honor his or her young life. Childhood is such a special, fleeting time. It’s hard to capture and hang on to that, but hopefully a portrait helps alleviate some of that pain. Children grow up quickly. We blink and it’s over.
That’s why it’s so important to capture them at this age. For Liz, simply a photograph wouldn’t be enough. A portrait, created through the eyes of art artist who’d met her son, was just the thing to honor him and his life.
I love this work, capturing a child’s personality and helping kids feel loved and valued for who they are. Moxie’s already an exceptional child because of what he’s been through. He still approaches life with the joy and wonder of childhood, and loves to have fun with his brother. With two loving parents to be there to catch him when he falls.
xoxo,
Kate