Tightly grasping the tool of his trade, Ethan Cummins stares at the canvas that lies before him — eyes trained, unblinking as if he is trying to pull some hidden picture from its depths to the surface. It's something you would expect of a student in an art class. He wanders a few feet to the right, then the left, then crouches down to get an alternate point of view. He is carefully contemplating his next stroke, his next color choice to bring the image in his head to artistic reality.