The hand painted portrait of my Dad takes pride of place in my living room. Every day I take 10 minutes to sit and look at his portrait …. which depicts him sitting on his beloved “motor bike” taken from a photo when he was 53 years old?
Now 55 years later I look at his portrait and think back to the days when I was a child of nine years old, how we played football together or during the summer holidays when he allowed me to ‘work’ with him on his building projects or how …. when I finished school at eighteen, how I joined him in his building business.
The times he dropped me off at the local discotheque, to meet my girlfriend (now my wife). As I gaze at the portrait, I always feel a sense of happiness and fulfillment as if he is saying “Son I’ll always be here for you”
In my opinion a portrait is the most beautiful way to keep in contact with your loved ones memory. A portrait is much the same as any famous painting … take for example “The Mona Lisa”. When you look at “The Mona Lisa” you imagine what her life might have been like. Was Da Vinci her lover? Did she have a husband? Did she have any children? You can only imagine …. nobody knows, and presumably nobody will ever know.
Now take a portrait …. for example …. your mother/father/brother/sister/husband/wife. You don’t need to imagine anything when you gaze at the portrait. Your memory tells you everything. You go back in time …. the time your little sister fell and cut her knee, and how you cleaned the wound and applied a bandage to make it better …. how her smile of gratitude said “You’re my hero”.
Your older brother, who always felt responsible for your well-being …. sometimes to your annoyance, although you knew he meant well, and only wished to protect you.
What about your mother, the person who brought you into this world and who nourished and fed you and loved you, for all the time you had known her. The mother, who listened and hugged you, when your heart was broken after the break-up with your latest boyfriend.
You remember your father, how he slipped you 5 punts on a Sunday evening, as you boarded the train for another week in college.
Think back to the day you married, and how much you loved each other, all through the years for richer and for poorer …. the day your first child was born. How both of you looked in admiration at what you had achieved.
The first time you received a present from your child …. How both of you looked in admiration as your children graduated from college.
These are just a few of the thousands of wonderful memories that will come flooding back to you when you are the proud owner of a portrait of your loved one.
Your grandchildren’s children will one day gaze at this portrait and say “I wonder what was life like back then?”
P.S. If you would like more information on this subject, please click on the link below where you will find the means to bring your dreams and memories to life.
www.spittingimage.ie
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