My friend Michael Thompson is a fellow member of the International Society of Portrait Artists. We love to email each other with our most recent images. You can imagine how great it felt when he said that this portrait of Maria Startz's girls was "absolutely stunning." That was high praise from someone who I really respect. I have to admit that it was pretty incredible to work with such great sisters who were totally into the experience. Even as I was creating the portrait, I could tell that it was going to be quite special.

A couple of weeks ago, we had the incredible experience of making these portraits in the Chinese Gardens at the Huntington Library. Lindy Yow and her family were celebrating their parent's 50th wedding anniversary, and they went to great length to make sure their portraits were amazing. Lindy even had Chinese gowns custom made for the portrait. Theirs was the first formal Chinese portrait to ever have been created at the gardens, so it was quite an honor for me.