[Rick Hamilton]

This is an interesting discussion. I have painted family members and friends that I have known for years and find it very different from painting someone I know little about.

I recently did a commision for a friend's family of two children, two boys, perched in a tree in a very pastural setting. Although the quality of the photo was horrible, it was being done as a gift to my client's grandparents.

When I completed the work and presented it to my client she burst out in tears. Of course my first reaction was that she hated it. But then she told me that the younger boy in the picture had died a year ago in a gun accident.

I don't know that I would have been as objective and clear-minded if I had known that prior to doing the work.