The Ninth Second became the first work to enter AnaMaree's collection.

She encountered the painting during a dinner at The Kennedy in Houston and decided to acquire it before it had even left the wall. Rather than taking the work immediately, we agreed that it would remain on view and that I would deliver it personally during my next exhibition there, once its certificate of authenticity had been completed.

That evening, our conversation moved beyond the painting itself and toward the ideas behind the Falling series. Much as The Hanging Man had gradually expanded through recurring figures and shared narratives, a question emerged:

"What would its female counterpart look like?"

The answer became a rider falling from her horse.

That conversation eventually found its way into another work: Inflection Point. Before it was ever exhibited or offered publicly, I shared the finished painting with AnaMaree. Her response was immediate.

"Sold."

In that sense, The Ninth Second marks more than the beginning of a collection. It marks the beginning of an ongoing dialogue between artist and collector, where a conversation around one painting quietly shaped the creation of another.