A tribute to a very special friend.

Recently I have created a piece of art that is very dear to my heart. A friend of mine passed away almost 3 years ago. I’ve known her most of my life, we were really close in 3rd grade until she moved away & I missed her so much. When I started middle school I found out that she was at the same school as me, but 3 years had past & we were different people. We weren’t as close as we once were. I still made many great memories with her but I always wished we could be as close as we once were but I was too shy to express how I felt. We moved onto high school & began to talk less until a few years in when we began to have more classes together. My favorite classes were always the ones with her. I didn’t have many friends due to a lot of drama that had happened my freshman year but she always made me feel like I fit in. When group projects came up she always asked to be my partner knowing no one else would’ve asked me. It meant more to me than I was ever able to tell her. She helped me in times that were really hard for me & she never even knew it. I wish more than anything I could tell her all she did for me & that she was such a great friend to me but I lost my chance. Instead I try my best to help people be inspired & feel good by my art. I recently was asked to help create some art pieces for a charity fundraiser in my friends name & decided I was going to create something in her honor, to show everyone who she was & how warming her smile was. I was thrilled to be able to create something so beautiful & dear to my heart. I decided the best way to create a piece of artwork that showed her beauty was to just paint her. I started off finding a picture of her smiling like she always did.  

I then used the app FxStencil to make that photo in a sort of pop art style that way I could see the different layers I needed to paint.  

Once I got the photo ready & how I needed it, I used it to draw a simple sketch. I then used that sketch to make a stencil & transfer it onto a canvas.  

Lastly I began to paint. Here is the evolution of the painting.  

Here is the end result.  

I am so proud of myself for how this turned out. I worked so hard to capture her internal beauty along with her outer beauty. Personally I feel as though I achieved my goal. I hope you all enjoyed today’s read on my new favorite piece & how I executed it. If you have any questions or comments feel free to send me a message. Thanks for reading! 

Rest In Peace my beautiful friend.