This painting began as an act of looking back. Hixson painted his mother from a photograph he grew up with, an image he returned to repeatedly as a child, studying her beauty, her ease, and the quiet joy she carried. Gardening was the language they shared most deeply. She taught him how to tend soil, how to wait, how to notice small changes over time. Those lessons became foundational, shaping not only how Hixson understands nature, but how he understands care.

The photograph that inspired the painting held more than likeness. It carried the memory of a deep and enduring love between his parents. After the painting was completed, Hixson’s father took it and placed it on his dresser, a space he visited every day. Hixson never asked for it back. To remove the painting would have meant interrupting an ongoing conversation between connection, devotion, and remembrance. The work became less an object to possess and more a vessel for love that continued beyond time.

This painting later became a point of emotional origin for Blue Eyed Boys. In returning to portraiture through his father, Hixson was not simply revisiting family resemblance, but tracing how love moves through generations. The tenderness held in his mother’s image informed how he approached his father portrait; with reverence, restraint, and an understanding that painting can function as both memory and offering.

Together, these works reflect Hixson’s ongoing exploration of inheritance, connection, and the quiet ways love endures. Painting becomes a means of tending to what remains, much like a garden shaped by careful hands, patience, and devotion.