Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Body of Smoke
24 × 20 inches | Oil on canvas | 2022
The first version of this composition began as a sketch in 2017—the first drawing I had completed in many years. I was in my first year of college, uncertain of where life was leading me and moving through a particularly dark period. The original image was simple: a hand ashing a cigarette while a thin trail of smoke curled upward into the empty space above it.
A year later, I returned to the composition for my first printmaking course. Inspired by the prompt “Body,” I took a more illustrative approach, shaping a human figure from the rising smoke. What had once been empty air became something almost spectral—a body emerging from the haze, suspended between appearing and disappearing. The revised image resonated deeply with my peers and remained with me long after the assignment ended.
In 2022, I revisited the piece once more after encountering the haunting works of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period. The melancholy of his palette felt fitting for an image rooted in such an uncertain chapter of my life. By translating the composition into oil and color, I was able to give new life to something born in darkness.
This painting carries five years of artistic evolution within it. It is not only a reflection of who I was when the first lines were drawn, but also a record of how an idea—and the artist behind it can continue to transform.
Body of Smoke
24 × 20 inches | Oil on canvas | 2022
The first version of this composition began as a sketch in 2017—the first drawing I had completed in many years. I was in my first year of college, uncertain of where life was leading me and moving through a particularly dark period. The original image was simple: a hand ashing a cigarette while a thin trail of smoke curled upward into the empty space above it.
A year later, I returned to the composition for my first printmaking course. Inspired by the prompt “Body,” I took a more illustrative approach, shaping a human figure from the rising smoke. What had once been empty air became something almost spectral—a body emerging from the haze, suspended between appearing and disappearing. The revised image resonated deeply with my peers and remained with me long after the assignment ended.
In 2022, I revisited the piece once more after encountering the haunting works of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period. The melancholy of his palette felt fitting for an image rooted in such an uncertain chapter of my life. By translating the composition into oil and color, I was able to give new life to something born in darkness.
This painting carries five years of artistic evolution within it. It is not only a reflection of who I was when the first lines were drawn, but also a record of how an idea—and the artist behind it can continue to transform.