The very first piece I've sold was made in honor of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The 18-hour watercolor piece was then bought for Jeremy Davies who played Corporal Upham in the film and is shown in this piece translating Edith Piaf's Tu Es Partout from the Gramophone. The sale of this piece encouraged me to keep creating.

The first two times I got a new level of recognition for my work --  being displayed in public and my first sale -- were both somehow related to Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. The Oxy Arts display was in honor of John and Lena Basilone from The Pacific, whose executive producers were Spielberg and Hanks (who also narrated). Saving Private Ryan was released in 1998, directed by Spielberg and starring Hanks as Captain Miller.