Leaving Nothing Behind (2010, oil on canvas, 72x44") was chosen by jurors Christina Rees and Richard Patterson for 500x's Expo 2010. 

I don't know the young man in this painting. I like to think that he had a crush on a neighbor-girl who recently went off to college. He broke his arm rescuing her cat who was left behind at her parent's house, and who, distraught over her owner's absence, climbed too high up a tree and wouldn't come down. The photograph used as reference for the painting was taken as a record of his heroism. Alternate title: Firefighter 1.