[Carol Norton]

Pat and Mischa, your comments certainly mean a lot to me.

Pat, that mother must be in a big struggle to make that baby "real" again. I had a similar problem with a client over a dog..... yes, a dog that had died. (That one took 6 months to decide to go ahead with the portrait.) I found that I couldn't make any value judgments and learned that grief is grief, no matter who or what it is over. You might drop her a note, letting her know you understand what a difficult experience this is for her and suggest that she start out a little easier on herself by and letting you paint one of her present children first. After you have shown her your beautiful work, she can let you know when she is feeling strong enough to have you paint her lost child. That's pretty powerful and emotional stuff and having an objective portrait of the baby just may make her relive the experience. Just a thought. A handwritten note with one of your portraits on the front, may be just the ticket to get her restarted in a different direction.

Thanks again, Mischa, for the perfect words. You were able to see my intent!