This
painting was presented to Tara and Dirk Lindsey on
November 6th, 2008 on The Today Show. Watch
the segment.
I very
rarely use text in a portrait. But in this case it
is an important part of the concept. The painting
depicts an impossible meeting, at least in this life,
of these five beautiful children. Faith and Hope are
much more than the names of the twins. Faith and Hope
are a life choice by the brave and inspiring parents
and a theme for their incredible journey, having lost
Rachel, Madelyn and Yates to a drunk driver. We have
Faith, Hope and the greatest of these is love, the
love these children will share with one another forever.
This
is the story that was the impetous for the portrait:
"Our long journey to our precious children began
in 2004. My husband and I decided to adopt after we
lost our three beautiful children to a drunk driver
in 2004 in Seminole, Texas, when we were struck on
the driver's side of our extended cab pickup. All
our children were correctly restrained in their car
seats and seat belts. My husband and I did not know
until many hours later that our children were all
killed, the medical staff did not want us to know
because we were still in critical condition, they
were afraid that this would make it worse. I can't
even begin to tell you how I felt, in my heart I knew
something really bad had happened, but no one could
tell me. I just stared at the ceiling and kept praying
to God that my children were ok. Our children Rachel
10, Madelyn 6 and Yates 5 weeks old were our life;
we never thought what it would be like without them.
The woman that hit our vehicle is serving three life
sentences, and will be up for parole in 27 years now.
They were great children and we could never replace
them, but we felt that we still had a lot of love
to give and an empty heart to fill again so we chose
to adopt from China. I will have to say this "pregnancy"
has been the worst - a lot longer than 9 months. Our
paperwork went to China in July 2005, and then we
waited, and waited, and waited! We hoped for twins,
not knowing if it would happen but after all "you
can always try". Our hopes, wishes, and most
of all prayers were answered and October 10, 2006
we were united with our two precious little girls
from Fuzhou, in Jiangxi Province. It was our Faith
and Hope in God that we would survive this tragedy.
So we named the girls Hope and Faith. They have been
such a blessing to our entire family, and we thank
God everyday for giving us a chance to be a family
again. The vehicle that we were in now is a mobile
exhibit for MADD and travels around Texas sharing
our tragedy. This is our story of thinking life can
not go on, yet God had another plan for us."
Thank
you so much for the the portrait it is absolutely
beautiful. We love the way you put Rachel's arm around
Faith, and that you took the images off of the girls
clothes. I was always sad that this was the only photo
I had with all three of our children, due to it was
such a casual photo. You made it so special now, as
if they were all here. I will definitely put the photo
on the blog, I have so many people wanting to come
to my home and see it. I too put a link to your website.
You do such beautiful work. It has been a blessing
to have met you. Thank you again, Tara Lindsey
The
Lindsey family Blog
Dear
Robert, I have certainly had a good cry this morning!
What a wonderful gift you gave that family. I think
they were so overwhelmed by the entire "scene"
of being on television, telling their story etc, that
they probably weren't able to appreciate the full
impact of your portrait gift until they returned home
and put it in their chosen spot in their house. You,
your talent will forever be an important part of their
lives because you have captured, no, RESCUED their
lost children, as they were, so realistically that
the entire family and everyone who knew those three
children will be able to see them forever as they
were, now encircled with love from the twins they
chose to adopt. Bravo, Robert. You did it. What a
wonderful gift! Sincerely, Vangie C. Rich
Dear
Robert, Just an exquisite work of art Robert. It was
obvious how moved these courageous parents were at
seeing it, not to mention for everyone in the room
and in the audience. Having two kids of your own,
it was clear by your heartfelt approach how much of
your own heart and soul went into the painting, as
well as, the sensitivity with which you presented
it to them. Clearly, The Today Show recognized your
impeccable talent Robert, for there surely couldn't
have been a better artist for the work then you on
this one. What an honor for you to be able to bring
some artful beauty, heart and light into such an overwhelming
tragedy, thus helping to transform in some small measure
their pain. Much congratulations to you Robert on
your continued success with all your "labor's
of love." Thank you for sharing this, as I too
had wanted to tune in that day, but was unable to.
Kathryn
Dear
Rob, I was so impressed with your portrait "Faith
and Hope". Moreover, the fact that you followed
through with the urge to give of yourself to this
remarkable couple in their grief was heart warming.
As artists, we can pull on heaven's rope through our
imagination. Thank you for sharing this story. Sincerely,
Betsy
G R O U P 
group
portraits