Portraits By Dana

This portrait of my daughter was drawn by a wonderfully talented artist who has not only been blessed with the ability to draw, but the ability to see our children the way we, the parents, do.

I had seen her work many times over the last few years as other bereaved parents posted their portraits on SHARE. I knew this was something I wanted to do, and I finally decided not to wait any longer.

Dana is not only talented, but also a very kind and understanding person. She made sure that her drawing was exactly what we wanted. She looked at the photos and told us what she thought she could do. In fact, the photo she chose to portray was one that I rarely ever share, as I never thought it was that great of a photo.

One of my biggest regrets was not seeing my babybear with a little bear of her own. Shortly after she died, I saw this cute little bear at the dollar store and I just had to buy it. I took a photo of that bear and sent it to Dana and she included the bear in the portrait.

What is absolutely amazing, is that Dana only saw photos of my daughter, who at only 26 weeks gestation was not much bigger than a 20 week old baby. Yet, she was somehow able to see exactly how I see my daughter, and even more amazing, she was able to capture just how much my daughter looks like her daddy and his family without ever seeing a photo of them. In fact, she looks almost exactly like her cousin, with exception of a dimple on my daughter's chin.

I absolutely recommend Dana's work, and I urge you to check out her website, Portraits By Dana, to see some of the amazing portraits she has done.

Thank you, Dana, for using your talent to capture the spirit of my baby. I will be forever grateful.