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What price a portrait.
A few years ago I was approached by a pensioner lady whose mother had recently died. Of course the only photo she had was a poor quality passport sized little image which couldn't be enlarged by photographic means. Could I help her? What I noticed was that she was very much like her mother in appearance so I agreed to do a pastel portrait. I knew she wasn't well off so quoted $300 framed, which she accepted.
I don't have a great long term visual memory so as soon as she left, while I could still remember her image, I quickly sketched her. I then used a magnifying glass to see details in the photo which allowed me to adapt the sketch to the mother's image.
After waiting a decent amount of time I asked her to come back for her approval before it was framed.
She burst into tears and couldn't stop thanking me.
I had it framed and when she came to pick it up she paid me $300 in $1 coins.
She had been saving up for more than a year to get that portrait done.
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Margaret Port
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