The subject for this publicity image was eleven years old when he sat for this portrait, but, when he was just five, he declared that the two of us would be married. There was no proposal about it: it was the statement of fact. When I explained to him that, usually, it's best to ask for a woman's hand, he replied that his mother had told him that he could marry anyone he wanted to.
What could I say? His logic was impeccable.
His mother was the first person to commission me. When I was in high school, she had me paint murals in a handful of rooms in her house. One of my first professional portrait commissions was for this painting.