How did it all begin?

Well, on morning my husband, Howard and I were lingering over our breakfast cup of coffee when he surprised me by saying he would like to have a portrait of me, similar to the one of his Aunt Bea who was displayed on the wall in our bedroom. His Aunt Bea was his mother’s sister and was beautiful as a young women and it showed in her picture. The frame was oval and it especially appealed to my husband. If we decided to go ahead with this exciting project it would be done in a oval frame.

How would I appear in a portrait? Certainly not as a women in her eighties as I am today but not as a young women either. We had our picture taken at our beloved daughter, Kathy’s wedding twenty-five years ago and I looked radiant and happy and that seemed a good choice.

We decided to go ahead with our plan and there was no doubt that we would ask Aapo Pukk to consider doing it. Aapo is a portrait artist from Estonia and he had painted our granddaughter Jenny when she was fourteen and it was absolutely beautiful.

Aapo visited us and we showed him the picture from our daughter’s wedding. He saw that it showed both my husband and I looking happy, and he suggested we both appear in this painting. I was delighted with the idea of us both being together and the deal was made. Aapo worked from our picture and soon showed us his painting. It was stunning and with few minor changes it was complete and ready for framing.

We met Aapo at the Gilt Edge framing shop and with his help and that if the owner we selected a lovely frame in silver tones with subtle ornamentation on the edges.

After a long wait the portrait was complete. It was beautiful, the oval frame set off Aapo’s painting perfectly.

We brought the painting home and it now hangs against a wooden wall in our front hall. Aapo came to see it and gave his approval on where we had placed it.

We were all happy!

Mary Kehrl, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

March 2010