Chickasaw artist Mike Larsen begins with a blank canvas, but sketches and shadows soon form a beautiful portrait. Larsen, who is known for his expressive portraits, begins with the eyes, which he calls the windows to the soul. "That's where your personality is, your persona, your being," he says. Close to his heart are the 72 Chickasaw elders who he has captured on canvas over the past decade. Two dozen of the latest portraits are currently on display at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur in a special exhibit titled, "Listening to Our Elders." While Larsen sketched and painted, his wife Martha listened, capturing the elders' stories. "It's not just a portrait, it is a painting of that elder's history," explains Martha.