Always Your Friend

This winter, I had the joy of painting this portrait of two sisters. Throughout the process, I felt the almost tangible love between the children every time I approached the canvas. I couldn't help it.

All of my paintings are painted with love, but the snapshot from which this painting was created struck me the moment I saw it in my client's email. I could feel an almost tangible, unbreakable connection, like an invisible thread, between the eyes of the sisters.

The younger child on the right was born with almost incomprehensible handicaps, but also an indominatable spirit. Her older sister is looking at her with such care I could feel it. It was a rare sunny day on the beach for the young one.

She has been through countless surgeries that I didn't know were even possible. She has more ahead of her. Now a teen, she attends school using a walker and wheelchair, yet she is a cheerful and brilliant student.

This painting was commissioned by the children's grandparents as a gift to their parents for Christmas. They're response was my best possible Christmas gift. This is the first time I've been able to show it.

Someone once commented to me, "I guess all artists have to paint portraits to keep the bills paid." No, that's not the case. I'm grateful for each portrait that comes my way for the opportunity to bring happiness and in some cases bring back memories of loved ones who have passed on. I've had a gift for capturing real likenesses from a young age, not something all artists can do, and as corny as it sounds, it fills my heart to use that gift to bring joy.
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Next up? a large, light-filled, commissioned oil of the misty Blue Ridge Mountains at sunset. 

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