This painting holds a very special place in my heart. Klay Thompson is one of my favorite players in the NBA. He’s reckognized as one of the greatest shooters of all time playing on one of the greatest teams of all time. Klay Thompson went through a long stretch of 20 games or so in the 2018-19 season in a terrible shooting slump, the worst of his career. But on December 29th 2018 he broke out of the slump, scored 32 points and went 4 of 5 from 3. After he hit three 3-pointers in a row, the other team called timeout and Klay ran back to the Warriors bench yelling at his shooting hand, “I missed you!” it was one of my most exciting moments as a warriors fan... Triumph was across Klay’s face and he was fired up which is actually pretty rare. After the heartbreak of his injury in the finals 2019 I was reminded of this moment and his determination. I started planning out the painting and sketching the night the he went down with the torn ACL and the Warriors lost the championship in 2019.

In this painting I really wanted to capture that exact moment. Whether it be through his expression, body language, or the wrinkles of his clothing, I wanted to truly take that moment of triumph and leave it on the canvas. This was the first full body painting that I’ve ever done and it proved to be a real challenge. I probably worked on this piece longer than any painting I’ve ever down. Through the process of painting this, I really felt like I could understand Klay in a new light and I loved that feeling of closeness. I feel like in this painting I really proved to myself how good I could really be if I put the time in.