Hart Dillard, Age 6, 11 x 14, Charcoal

I write a lot about my mission to help kids feel loved and valued for who they are. This mission is deeply personal because it stems from my experiences as a kid and feeling like who I was wasn’t good enough. I believed that I didn’t fit in and I didn’t do, wear, or say the right thing.

Now as an adult I see how those negative experiences shaped me into the person I am now and gave me this beautiful since of purpose. I know what I’ve been put on this earth to do.

I accomplish my mission by creating commissioned portraits of children that capture their personality. I do that by meeting the child and their mom and spending time with them. I also interview their mom about who their kids are so I can better capture that unique little person.

I want them to know they are beautifully created and worth celebrating.

For Hart’s portrait, his mom Margaret told me her oldest son is a rule follower. He’s calm and funny, and enjoys sports and science. Margaret said she wanted this portrait because it was something special that was more than a photo to capture her son.

These moms know how precious and fleeting childhood is. Since becoming a mom I understand how they feel:) The love you feel for a child is the greatest love of all. It’s deeper than anything you’ve known before. You want your children to know how loved and valued they are every day.

A portrait of you child is a symbol of that love. It’s a true expression of the love in a mother’s heart. I’m just so happy to be the one to celebrate it.