It all started with Olaf, Super Mario, and Santa Claus — my son Nicholas’ top picks for our little painting sessions. But after sharing a few of those first creations online, something unexpected happened: people started paying attention.
One message really caught me off guard. It came from an old friend and journalist back in Italy — someone who had followed my water polo career years ago. He loved the playful style of my paintings and asked if I could create something special for him: a custom water polo piece.
Now, let me be clear — I’m not some world-famous artist (yet 😄), and I definitely wasn’t expecting to ship my art across borders. But I gave it a shot. I put heart, humor, and a splash of chlorine into the canvas… and he loved it.
Today, that painting is hanging in the RAI TV studios in Napoli.
Yep. My first “commissioned” piece went straight from my living room to Italian national television. No big deal. (Okay, fine — I did a little happy dance.)
It was one of those surreal, full-circle moments where I thought, “Wait… maybe this thing I’m doing isn’t just a hobby after all.
