Katalina, age 26, comes to the Park to paint portraits on the weekends; her weekdays are spent painting in her studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

I was in the University, I studied fine art, for 5 years, in Costa Rica.

I was interested in galleries, and I brought my paintings to some galleries in New Orleans, and then I came here, in order to try to show in galleries. But I haven't approached any yet. I had a small exhibition in New Jersey. For galleries, it's a longer process, I need more sponsors, I don't have enough people who know me. That's why I have to prepare a more strong portfolio. Another thing is that I'm very young, so it's not very easy for me. Usually people are older and they have more connections already. That's why it's more hard when you're young.

I think, as an artist, everything you make as artwork, it has an effect on your life. But when you have to sell your work, it is always a situation between your own expression and the expectations of the customer. And that's why it's so difficult to sell your work. Here in the Park, a lot of times the competition here makes for a very restrictive style, a very similar kind of work. And when you try to go up, when you try to open people to other things, they don't want it. And that situation is difficult, but in another way I've learned to understand, and it can be very good for communication, so maybe, in that sense, it's good for my work. But my own painting is very different; it's surreal, and this is very, very different work here; it's a challenge.

Usually I come here on the weekends; during the week I try to paint in my studio.

When I first moved to New York, I had a friend, he's a painter, and he told me I can make portraits here.

People don't understand that a portrait is very personal, and the artist can do something that the customer doesn't expect. Some paintings tend to be very realistic, but it's never like a photograph. That's why I like portraits, because you capture something some essence in the person, and that's what I like to do. But the difficulty is that people expect something very realistic, something very similar to what they see in the mirror. But usually people like it, because it's different, it's art and not something they usually have.