2023
Childhood football club...
Following the theme of football, in January 2023 Manchester United - the football club that I've supported for my entire life through the glory days and the not so glorious times, shared my work for the first time.
The post featuring my Lisandro Martinez artwork was shared to an audience of over 100 million people across Instagram and Twitter and even gained appreciation from some of the players themselves.
This was the first time that I ever crossed paths with Manchester United aside from just being a fan, something which the younger me wouldn't have even been able to comprehend...
Link up with Licha...
One of the players who took a liking to the painting when United shared it was none other than Lisandro Martinez himself, a week after the post was shared I linked up with Lisandro and presented him his painting in person.
This marked my first painting in a professional footballer's home which was already crazy, the fact it was one of my favourite players for my favourite club made it that extra bit more special.
Born to paint Red & White...
The Manchester United theme continued when I created my next painting, a portrait of Marcus Rashford when he was in the form of his life scoring every week.
Marcus seemed to love the piece, sharing it to his 14+ million followers on Instagram, this had a massive impact on the trajectory of my journey. Leading to prints being purchased and shipped to collectors all over the world and a large increase in my audience on socials.
There are a number of times we were supposed to meet up to exchange the painting which unfortunately fell through, and with him now playing over in Barcelona seem unlikely.
However I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I guess we'll see...
Invite to Old Trafford...
After the successful link up with Lisandro Martinez and the Rashford repost, the connection with Manchester United was at an all time high.
I was approached to create a special painting for Kobbie Mainoo to congratulate him on his official Premier League debut and invited down to Old Trafford to present it to him.
Kobbie loved the piece and Manchester United once again shared my work on their social platforms, something that no matter how many times happens is always a surreal feeling.
Giveon's invite to Paris...
Following the football heavy start to the year, the focus began to switch to my favourite musicians, who were coming to the UK that year on tour. One of the people I knew I had to meet was R&B artist Giveon, who is one of my favourites and was coming to Manchester on his 'Give or Take' world tour.
I got to work creating a large detailed portrait inspired by the theme of the tour, and when I shared it his management immediately reached out to say they'd love for me to come backstage before the show and present the painting to Giveon.
During a conversation I was having with Giveon I mentioned that the year prior I had seen him perform in Paris, to which he said let's make it a tradition and invited me to his show in Paris the following week.
It was a very special experience, with Giveon being so interested in the process of the painting, taking time to have real conversations and the invite to Paris. After all that, just to put the cherry on top - he shared the painting to his 2 million Instagram followers.
The ambitious attempt...
Following the link up with Giveon my confidence was sky high, and I set my sights on the big one. My favourite artist of all time and the biggest in the world, The Weeknd had multiple UK stops on his 'After Hours Til Dawn' tour and I was determined to meet him and maybe even present him some artwork in the process.
I spent countless hours creating two portait paintings inspired by the tour, however despite incredible support from social media I wasn't able to make it happen unfortunately.
However it wasn't all bad, as I was invited to a private event by his label 'XO' & 'HXOUSE' where they selected a very small number of creatives in each country of the tour to compete in creative challenges and pick the brains of some incredible people.
With The Weeknd coming back to the UK in 2026 I am determined to make sure I don't miss out on meeting him again...
Linking up with a famous collector...
Another artist who was stopping off in the UK on a world tour was rapper and owner of multiple pieces of my work, Lil Skies. After years it only made sense that whilst he was here we should link up finally in person.
It was a moment that I'm very grateful for, with Skies showing his appreciation for me and my work and telling me that he still loves the pieces I created for him in the years prior, whilst also hinting that those may not be the last pieces of my work that he wanted to own...