My first commission was a posthumous portrait of a baby that had been still born.
The grandparents contacted me by phone and I met the father and his father in person. They were very broken up. It was the couple's first child and the baby was near term when something went wrong.
There were no usable pictures for reference - they gave me pictures of both the mother and the father as babies. It was Tuesday at 4 p.m. and they needed the framed portrait for the memorial service on Saturday a.m. I recommended a charcoal because of time and because it seemed the right medium for such a work. They agreed.
The father called me that evening. He had spoken with the mother (still in the hospital) and they wanted me to do the portrait of the baby with her eyes open - as the happy healthy baby she might have been.
To this day, it was the hardest portrait I have ever done. I spent the whole week crying while I worked, and calling on "something" to come to me and help me capture her in the work. On Friday afternoon, I met the mother and the father to deliver the piece. When she saw it, she started crying. I told them that I hoped they would try again and that someday I would love to do a happy portrait for them.
Her name was Bryanna. You can view the portrait at:
http://www.fineportraitsinoil.com/Bryanna.htm