Let me tell you about something that happens when I get to do a portrait.
When I look at someones face for a long time I start to see things that I did not see at first.
You might think how much can there be to look at. A face is not very big.
How much can there be to see.
What happens when you paint though is you have to look look look at every little thing. The slight upturn in a crinkle at the corner of an eye. The slight variation in the bow of the lip from one side to the other.
We are talking subtle things here.
But these are the little things that add up into what makes the face beautiful. And unique.
A funny things happens to me when I see the actual person I have painted in person. It is shocking. It is like I never saw them before I painted them. But now there they are in the flesh and I feel like I know know know them and nobody has ever seen them like I have.
So I feel close to that person.
I see them. Once I have seen them in this way I feel like they are mine sort of. Like we have a private bond.
And this is the unusual thing that happens.
So it is an privilege to spend time with someone in this most magical time.