Portraits Matter

My daughter has no baby pictures. None of the naked newborn on the rug photos, none of the spaghetti-faced toddler pictures, none of the first lost tooth. Her first photo, which she guards with dear life, was taken in an orphanage in Ethiopia. She's wearing a mismatched outfit and holding a sign that says that she's a "girl - 6 years old".

And, so we do portraits together. She dances in the snow in a thrift store party dress, and I paint it. She dresses as a shepherdess with a staff herding her sheep. She sits in a dignified pose as in a beautiful mansion. She dresses as a shepherdess with a staff herding her sheep, and I paint for her. She spins the stories of who she is, and who she can be, and together we capture her beauty. Portraits matter.