Wednesday, November 17, 2010

for you only

a few months back my friends darling son stopped me at church and asked- “Sister Graff- would you ever paint ME?”I knew this was because I had done this painting of a girl that his mother had that resembled his sister. Well how could I respond to this  sweetest most earnest questioning request and so I said yes. (also maybe he was just preying on my mother guilt  for middle children—they so often just get sandwiched in and you always worry about them feeling special). Now you must know I hate portraits--- I will not do them for love or money or even blood relatives! It seems strange for a woman who has spent the last year painting figures- but really legs are easy and especially painting my own legs 20 times -- I pretty much have them down.  B the truth is generally portraits stress me out and make me grouchy. So I finally got around to doing it. I just did something quick- gave myself a 2 hr time limit (here you can see SS#3 helping me paint the background.IMG_2140

But nothing beats the ear to ear smile I saw when I gave it to him. He ran around the church parking lot with it and was the cool kid in the family for that moment. But the best was his thank you note which included a lovely portrait of yours truly. He selected which image he wanted to draw from with his mothers access to my Facebook photos. I must say I was most impressed by the detail of my toes, wedding ring, and shoes and even the legs  and fabric of my family room ottoman. And his enhancement of my figure would make any Brazilian proud. And if you see the big brown man around tell him I am waiting to be paid  for this in chiclets or indian food. Picture 38

and to darling C- XO always-- love sister G!

7 comments:

Becky said...

I love it...all of it. The portrait, the thank you card, the ear to ear smile. Made my night. :)

Becky said...

PS: I count myself VERY lucky to have a treasured portrait of Ben from you. It's one of my all-time favorite items of his. SO thank you again and again.

LL said...

This made ME smile from ear to ear.
Seriously, I don't think I've EVER forget that smile on his face on Sunday, there's nothing better!
He loves you! We all love you.
THANK YOU for helping my middle child feel like the most important person in the world....he's so thrilled. And it's fun to see how proud he is of it.
And YES, the picture of you. Perfection. (and Braziian)
Thank you!

smart mama said...

Becky- I loved drawing him for you-I only wish I could have done him mroe justice. We all miss him and think of him often! Big hug

LL -his picture i think makes me smile just as big! And I know you liked my brown man crack--I will all out beg prostrate on the ground to get chris to make some indian food come the dark days of february...

Lei said...

So generous les... and sweet. :)

andrea said...

I love you Les.

Zoe said...

So great!! What a great thing to give him. He is the luckiest boy in the world.

BTW- I am glad that I am not the only one who uses paper plates to hold my paint!