The Linda Portrait

I have had some of my friends ask to see the picture that we had painted of my Aunt Linda, so here is the back story and some pictures.

It has been about a year and a half since the sudden death of my Aunt Linda. Her death has been really difficult on everyone in the family. To say "difficult" is even an understatement, but I don't have words beyond that to describe the hurt and loss. Linda's death has been devastating for my sweet grandma in particular as she has lost 3 children in a 4 year period and the fact that Linda is her baby and left behind four young children has made it even more trying.

When my Uncle Charlie died, my Uncle Lynn had a portrait painted of Charlie that was absolutely beautiful and a perfect portrayal of him. This portrait was painted exactly from a picture that existed of Charlie (which is important to know for the later part of this story). My Grandma has the portrait hanging in her front room and she has really treasured it since (I wish I had a picture of it-I'll have to take one next time I am at my Grandma's). Since Linda's death, she has wanted to find a good picture of Linda to have framed and hung up as well. The only problem is that Linda hated to have her picture taken and so to find a good face shot of her to blow up and frame proved to be a challenging task. Earlier this year, my cousin Che'Lyn and I were talking and decided that it would be really nice to have a picture painted of Linda for Grandma like she has of Charlie. We coordinated with Lynn to get the same painter to do it as we know that he is obviously extremely talented.

Che'Lyn and I gathered a number of pictures of Linda for him to use to base the portrait and then we went and met with him to tell him exactly which hair, eyes, cheeks, smile, clothing, even eyebrows that we wanted him to use. We were nervous to see how it would come out because combining all these different elements from a number of pictures is obviously more challenging than just taking one picture and painting it. However, the painter was amazing and expertly combined a number of pictures to produce an absolutely breathtaking and perfect picture of Linda. This man is an artistic genius and beyond that, he was one of the kindest, most genuine people I have ever met. He took the pictures we gave him and painted this portrait in about a week's time:

When we went to get the portrait, I knew that it would be emotional for us and it definitely was. It was so overwhelming to see her painted so beautifully and perfectly, right down to the little smirk/smile. It is amazing that the painter has the talent to embody her personality in the portrait, even though he had never even met her. At the same time, we were able to laugh a little about how Linda would be hating us and calling us losers or nerds for having her painted. She would have been absolutely opposed, but there is no denying that she would love this picture as well.

We were anxious and excited to give it to Grandma. The whole family knew about it and everyone had contributed money and ideas in order to have the painting come to fruition. We celebrated Grandma's birthday during our early Thanksgiving last weekend in Idaho and that is when we presented the painting to her.

Again, we knew it would be an emotional experience and it most certainly was. Grandma was really surprised and very emotional. You can see little Jack (Linda's 4 year old) next to her in the picture. He ran up and looked at the picture and said, "That's my mom! I miss her!" So heartbreaking. My Grandma looked the picture for quite a while and just cried. She then stood up and told us all how much she loves and misses Linda and how grateful she is every day that she got to have Linda in her life for 38 years. She talked about how she might never have known Linda if the Lord hadn't brought her into her family through adoption. It was definitely a moment I won't forget.

I think the picture is something that Grandma will treasure for a long time and I am glad that we were able to do that for her. She already has Linda hung up on her mantel and talks to her every day, just as we expected she would.