These three portraits are the absolute best gift we have given ourselves!

The first portrait we had done was for Laura’s sixteenth birthday. I think we had in mind to do each of them at age sixteen, but after living with her likeness for a few months, we knew we didn’t want to wait that long to have Billy and Sarah join her on the livingroom wall.

Circumstances change, people move away and it becomes harder to accomplishment a plan - and we definitely wanted Aapo to finish what he started. The process was a delight for each of the children.

Aapo has a gift for making each child at ease as he explains what he is doing, what he needs from them and how much he appreciates that they have trusted him to do this for them. They each feel they have a special friend in Aapo and Helge, his wife, who is always welcoming and ready with treats when it is rest time.

As we live with the portraits we continue to see different aspects that we had not experienced before. Aapo seems to look within a person and pull out something that is not at once apparent to us. (I have noticed this in other portraits he has done which I have seen on several occasions.) He seems to catch the essence of a person. Many of our friends have been in our home and seen the portraits. They are always impressed with the work Aapo has done and note how much he has caught their likeness as well as their personalities. Recently we had several persons in our home who do not know the children. Their comments about the portraits included many about how much they were like the photographs in the room, but also how they seem to capture a special “something” which is not apparent in the photographs.

These three portraits are the absolute best gift we have given ourselves. We see the children grow and change, and we enjoy looking at them and remembering Laura at 16, Sarah at 11 and Billy at age 9.

Proud grandparents Jerri and Tony Schilling pose with their grandchildren Billy, Sarah and Laura under their cherished collection of pastel portraits.