This is a commission for some friends, a portrait of their son who died in open heart surgery. He was born with some problems in his heart, and the surgery was meant to fix those problems. He was a very special boy, loved and remembered by many of those who came in contact with him.



To really customize the painting for my friends, I used the toys he played with as the subjects for the wallpaper background. Zach has a little sister who was the same age that he was when he died at the time I painted the portrait, so we dressed her . . .