Finished Work In Progress: Portrait in Memory of Scott Helvenston

Visuals from outside sources that were getting in the way .
These particular visuals, however, were very motivating in a sense, but I had to get past it all in my own head in order to paint this portrait in the way that it needed to be painted. I do want to point out that I intend not to write any definition of my visuals, or describe them in words, in order to keep with the focus I noted above. I remember seeing the pictures of the incident in Fallujah on the internet. When I discovered that this man that I was painting was one of the four men involved, and the stories unfolded as I read more and more about him, I had to remind myself to stay focused. Also, considering I was painting this for someone in his family, it was very important to me that he was depicted in a positive light, with a lasting memory of happiness.