When it became known to my family and friends that I had begun painting, my good friend Konolus Smith requested that I paint a picture of a rastafarian for his birthday. I had never attempted a portrait of anyone of color and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to do it. I found a magazine picture of a Jamaican man with dreadlocks going in all directions and I used that picture as a guide. Once I'd painted it, though, the painting didn't seem quite right and I kept coming back to the hair and trying to really capture the look of dreadlocks. I eventually discovered that I could just squeeze the tube of acrylic paint in long gloppy strands along the locks that I'd painted to create a two dimentional effect and the result was perfect. I ended up loving this painting so much that I couldn't give it up and had to paint Konolus a different rastafarian.