While painting, I spend hours listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks. One day I was listening to Can’t Rush Greatness and looking at the album cover, with Cench’s rings spelling “Can’t Rush”. It made me wonder who should complete the word “Greatness”.

I remembered the old profile picture, hearing “FDOT” throughout so many songs, and seeing the jewellery Central wears in his honour. After researching their friendship, I knew FDOT was the person who should stand beside Cench and finish the phrase.

FDOT not only completes “Can’t Rush Greatness”, but symbolically continues Cench’s sentence, showing he remains by his side in spirit. He stands slightly behind Cench, representing that he’ll always have his back.

Behind them is a sold-out stadium, with phone lights spelling “Long Live FDOT”. The crowd also resembles a star-filled night sky, symbolising their bond.

Alongside that is a smaller “Live Yours” message. I wanted to use the word “Live” in two ways while including the motto synonymous with Cench.

The painting was expected to take two weeks but became 2–3 months of full-time work. The biggest challenge was balancing multiple light sources, stadium spotlights and jewellery reflections while maintaining realistic portrait lighting.

Ironically, this painting embodies its own title. It’s the longest piece I’ve ever created. Whenever people said, “You’ve been working on that forever,” my response was always: “You can’t rush greatness.”