Sweet Uncle Roy

Jodi has become a regular customer. She has request two previous caricatures from me. One of her husband, who is a chaplain in the USAF, and a second one as a Christmas gift for her mother. (Use the links to check them out.)


This time Jodi made a touching request. She wrote...

"My sweet Uncle Roy passed away this morning. He has been battling cancer for years, and even though we knew his time was near, the family is still grieving. He was still in his 50's and that just seems to young."

"You did a drawing for a family awhile back that I never forgot. Their loved one had passed away, and you drew him in angles arms flying to heaven, with Jesus awaiting with open arms."

"Do you repeat those types of drawings?"


The drawing that Jodi was referring to is one that my sister request after her husband, my dear brother-in-law, Jim, passed away. Jim was a good man and a good friend to me. I still miss him. That drawing was very personal, but of course I was willing to create something for Jodi's family.

There were some special request that went with this assignment.

Apparently, Uncle Roy was "the biggest Alabama football fan" she ever knew. She wanted me to include the hat worn by Coach Bear Bryant somewhere in the drawing.

The color yellow was his favorite. Through the years of his illness family members sent pictures of everyone wearing yellow, at the request of his wife's, Lis. At the funeral they had yellow ribbons for the family to wear.

His daughter Molly, 17 years old, went and got a tattoo in his honor. (Ouch! Right on the neck too!!)


Plus, he and his wife had a thing for dragonflies. They collected them. They gave them to each other. They have poems and songs written about them all over their house. 


With all those special request in mind, I went to work and here is what I came up with.

I think this drawing turned out fairly well. I managed to work in all the little request that Jodi made. For some reason it took me quite a while to get this piece completed. Maybe because it was such an important and personal topic to me. Maybe it's because I have a few distractions in my wife, with a daughter getting married in less than a week's time. I changed this illustration from the one I did of Jim. Instead of one big angel, I drew two smaller cherubs. For some reason I felt that a larger angel would be a distraction from the central figure, Uncle Roy.


Jodi said she really liked the drawing. Unfortunately, she has yet to get the actual piece in hand. I got the envelope back in the mail today—apparently I didn't have the correct address. I feel bad because Jodi has been waiting for this for sometime. It's close enough to Christmas that it might work as a Christmas gift.


Thank you Jodi for trusting me with a very important assignment. I hope that in some way my little doodle can help heal a hurting heart.


----------------------


Speaking of Christmas!! It's just around the corner. If you're interested in me creating a special gift for a special person then drop me an e-mail. I think that you will find my prices amazingly reasonable. Apparently Jodi does. This is her third go around, after all.


green_rick@juno.com


Just DO IT!!