Dolma.

Dolma has a habit that defines her: before deciding anything, she climbs as high as she can find and stays there watching for a good while. She says you see better from up high, that down below you don't take in a thing. That doesn't show in the portrait — here you see her head-on, from the shoulders up — but it's there in those watchful eyes: she's one of those who notice what the rest let slip by. For a youth t-shirt I liked that idea: wearing someone who looks before she moves.

A fun fact about her species: the red panda is arboreal to the core. It spends its life up high, climbs into the canopy to rest and to keep watch, and when it comes down it does so head-first, rotating its ankles to grip the trunk. Dolma too is drawn to the heights. I created this portrait head-on and against a plain background, made to hold up to the wear of that age. If it wins you over, you've got her whole story in the biography, and a whole collection of characters to discover.