This painting sits in the space between wanting and becoming. The hat appears before the man, before the horse, before the proof—an object heavy with borrowed courage and imagined futures. It represents the moment when identity is tried on rather than earned, when belief comes first and experience follows later, if at all.

All Hat, Full Heart speaks to the quiet optimism of longing—the idea that sometimes sincerity matters more than authenticity, and that desire itself can be an honest form of truth. The work reflects a Western mythology not of conquest or certainty, but of hope, vulnerability, and the bravery it takes to claim a dream before you know how to live it.