For the Toronto Maple Leafs works, I was influenced by thinking about and wanting to create work that looks and feels organic, like the characters are just playing hockey in Leaf's gear at a local pond or outdoor rink. Also fueled by my youth, these portraits and their surroundings are from my childhood experience of going to local ponds in the winter, skating and observing other people skating and playing hockey on the ice, and recapturing that feeling and emotion.