To Be Something

Description

Title: “To Be Something”
Promise collection
Original oil painting
10×14″ (25.4×35.56cm) Canvas Board
Unframed

The beginning of the movement depicted in the four paintings of the Promise collection, this original oil painting depicts a figure skater spinning, her free leg blurring with the movement, her white and grey dress melting into the white background. Despite the speed of the rotation that confuses the parts of her it pulls on her center remains steady. Her left arm reaches up and her right arm moves down towards her chest, as though gripping something above and pulling it down towards her. This is a painting about holding fast, knowing your worth, and reaching for greatness.

The Promise collection is a series of four paintings inspired by US figure skater and 2025 World Champion Alysa Liu. In 2024 she returned to figure skating after a two year retirement from which most expected she would not return. Her short program set to the song “Promise” by Laufey was an expressive, emotional and inspiring homecoming and it won over the hearts of figure skating fans all over the world – myself included. This collection is an ode to that program and to the music that inspired it. Each of the four pieces depicts a moment in the final spin of her program, each only a fraction of a second away from the one before. I painted them on a white background without distraction – in these moments there is only her, there is only this spin, there are only the feelings it brings. For these precious moments the rest of the world melts away.
I consider myself a link in a chain of artists collaborating and inspiring each other – musicians, choreographers, and of course the skater herself. My greatest hope for this collection is that it will go on to inspire others, continuing the chain and bringing more art into the world than existed before it.

Colours may vary slightly between monitors.