In this past week, I had the great delight of working on this commissioned portraiture piece. The story behind it really captivated me. This was a painting done in 1968 by a gentleman of his son as a young child. The boy in this portrait, Kevin, lived to be about 30 years old before passing away from leukemia. My client is a close relative of the family and (with the approval of the original artist) he requested that I clean up and restore the painting and gave me permission to repaint the boys head and face and touch up spots that needed slight repair. After cleaning it well with Gamsol and oiling it out I dug in; and using the original reference photo Kevin‘s father used brought this little guy back to life. I didn’t change much of the clothing or background because once his head and face were complete I didn’t see the need. It was also nice to preserve those parts of the original painting. The blue of Kevin’s eyes is the colour his father painted them. I simply added to and enhanced them. That leads me to name this painting, “In His Father’s Eyes”. Interestingly Kevin’s father never signed the painting. On the back I plan to document the original artist as well as my work.