You go through life never knowing who you meet that might have a profound influence.  Ten years ago, my husband and I were blessed with two such wonderful individuals.  Brother Randy Mitchell and his wife Sue pastored a local church in our new town for more than 15 years before we made their acquaintence.  We were introduced by a mutual friend who had attended their church for a number of years.  Over the course of the next several years, Brother Randy and Sue became not only our Pastor and his wife, but also true and dear friends.  Brother Randy presided over not only our oldest daughter’s wedding, but even after my husband and I moved to another church, we called Brother Randy to perform the renewal of our vows on our tenth wedding anniversary.  Even though we no longer attended his church, we couldn’t imagine asking anyone else to bless our marriage.

Brother Randy went home to be with our Lord this past spring.  His passing was a great shock and while we rejoiced his new home, we grieved the loss of a wonderful friend.  I think I’ll forever miss his calls whenever his beloved Florida State Seminoles won and hubby’s beloved Virginia Tech Hokies did not.  I cherish the memories of the original poems and birthday jingles left on our answering machine.  I wish we’d had just one more dinner at Perkins together.

Last week I received a phone call from a former church friend who asked if I had any photos of Brother Randy and Ms. Sue together.  Ms. Sue is moving from her home here in the community to live closer to her son, to help with his children.  I was only too happy to search my files and couldn’t come up with a “formal” photo.  But what I did have in my files was a photo taken at a Christmas party, along with a photo of th church taken for their directory.  My creative juices started to flow, and what transpired was only a blessing from God -

“Let the words from my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer, in Jesus name.”   Psalm 19:14  - and those words are forever etched into my heart of hearts, for they were the closing words to every prayer I heard Randy Mitchell pray.

We will miss you both Brother Randy and Ms. Sue!

I recieved a very touching email from AH several months ago, asking if I could help her to memorialize a very special friend.  AH voluteered for a local cat rescue and after fostering 16 cats, she and her husband decided to become their forever home.  Maxx was more than a rescue kitty to AH….he was just one of those “once-in-a-lifetime”, incredible souls that sometimes we are lucky to be blessed with in our lifetimes.  Maxx was lost a couple of years ago to a heart condition, but through many photographs and several scrapbooks of memories…………and now this artwork……Maxx is now home, in a place of honor in AH’s home.  Sweet Maxx, I was honored to be asked to paint your portrait.

AH ordered a 20 x 24 of her boy to hang in a very special place in her home.  I think she did great with the framing!

I was approached several months ago by someone who wished to commission a very special painting.  My client had a college friend who had gone through the heartbreak of losing a son born still.  She searched for something that she could do for this friend, and found a photograph of a ceremony memorializing this young family’s son with a maple tree….thus the name of the painting – Duncan’s Tree.  You can read Duncan’s Mom’s touching tribute to her son’s brief life here.  It was an honor and a priviledge to play a small part in Duncan’s memory.  Many blessings to Monica, Jim, Seth and the newest addition, Baby Erin.

I love when I get an email from someone with an image that they’ve taken and I see, “Can you help me with this?”  in the email.  It gives me a chance to use what the Lord blessed me with and help someone else secure a memory and create an heirloom work of  art.  One of my clients sent me a snapshot of her parents that she snagged at a family gathering.  She loved the photo of her mother and father – but the problem was a big…..no, HUGE…..florescent pink bunny sitting right between them.  It’s not often that we can snap a random image of people we love, much less, TWO people that we love, and have it be an image that we really like without something being in the way and it ends up being tossed.  Fortunately, she emailed the photo to me and asked…..”Can you help me with this?”

After some manipulation and fancy photoshop footwork (I thought they should be sitting a little closer together…wink, wink) and…..voila!….. The Big Pink Bunny was no longer, I had an image that I could paint into a lovely artpiece and my client now has an heirloom painting for her wall that she loves.  Send me your images – let’s see if I can help you!  Consultations are free of charge and who knows….you might end up with an heirloom artpiece worthy of passing along for many generations to come!

Original Photo:

Finished Artpiece:

Closeup of face:

Comparison from original to finished piece:

Portraits aren’t always about “humans” – expressions, beauty, love…..can all be used to describe the furry family members as well.  Pet portraits are some of my favorite paintings.  I love to bring out the love, the humor, the sentimentality that we all feel about our pets.

Congratulations to Gina C. – the winner of the Heirloom Give-away.  Gina submitted a photo of her adorable daughter, Emmalee in our Fan Photos give-away on our Facebook page.  There were SO many great photos submitted, it was a really difficult choice, but Emmalee’s adorability factor scored an 11×14 canvas print of this latest Fine Art from Real Life! 

Christmas is fast upon us!  Don’t wait – contact us with your treasured family photo to be transformed into a cherished heirloom for a beautiful gift for someone special this holiday season.

See how easy is it is to have your own photo painted into a gorgeous painting, sure to add that special touch to your home.

Check out the new logo!  It was time to move away from the boring, plain old look – and it was time to move on from the photography logo to this……

In celebration of the “New Look” and in making plans for Christmas, we are running a special!  Order a painting for regular price during the month of October and receive a box of 20 cards with your painting on the front – a $55 value!  You can use these as Christmas cards, announcements or just personal note cards.  The cards are printed on luxurious linen cardstock and come with matching envelopes.  You can have them personalized with a message on the inside, or leave them blank for your own written message.

Pricing and information for ordering is available under the Contact Us tab.  Please email debra@debralinkous.com for additional information.

A friend recently posted a photo to her online social networking account with the caption, “I could stare at this photo all day”.  When I saw the sweet face, I could see why.  How many of you have a favorite snapshot – a moment frozen in time that just pulls at your heartstrings and you wish that you could capture that expression in a portrait to be framed and hung for all the world to enjoy?  You can!!  Your snapshots can be transformed into Fine Art from Real Life by Debra Linkous.  Dig through your albums and find that photo today and contact us – we will help you grace your walls with Art….taken from your life!

I’ve been asked many times over recent months - “Are your paintings really painted or are they just photo-shopped”?  Well, the truth of the matter is that my art is created using several digital programs.  Some of the enhancements that I apply to the original photograph happen in Photoshop – such as color correction, resizing, cleaning up blemishes on skin, etc.  Once this happens, I then take the photo into a graphics program, called Corel Painter.  To anyone in the graphics industry, Corel Painter is widely known as the closest thing to really painting without actually getting a paintbrush wet.

Within Painter there are hundreds of “paintbrush” options – each one applies the “paint” to the canvas much the same as the physical brush would do.  There are textures, paint pallettes, pens, pencils, chalks, and I could go on and on.  This is a pallette that shows just a few of the brush strokes applied.  You can see where the pressure of the pen against the tablet determines how much paint is applied.  You can also see, just as in traditional painting, where the brush is set against the canvas and the paint is thicker and then runs out as the stroke gets longer.

The point I’m trying to make is – in answer to your question – yes, my art is truely painted.  Each pixel in the photograph is touched by a paintbrush, applying paint and techniques just as meticulously as if I was holding an actual bruch in my hand - but my brush is a Wacom pen and tablet.  I would venture to say that the time invested in painting in Corel Painter is much the same as if I were traditionally painting, minus the time for the paint to dry and cleaning my brushes. 

There is much education and practice to painting from a digial photograph.  There are programs out there and plug-ins for Photoshop that will apply a “painterly” look to a photograph.  Some produce quite nice results – however none of them have the control and precise techniques to turn a photograph into a true heirloom quality painting.

I could use the short-cuts, the plug-ins, the programs that are a one-button trick to make your photo look like a painting – but I choose to be true to the art form – taking time to develop your heirloom piece, enjoying each and every stroke that I paint on that canvas – I truely love creating a painting using your photos – that’s where I think Fine Art from Real Life really begins….I hope you enjoy the art that I create as much as I enjoy creating it for you!

Briana is the granddaughter of a dear friend and just celebrated her 2nd birthday!  This was a snap shot taken during the day, and what a gorgeous capture!   Wonderful ART from Real Life!  Your personal photos can be taken to a new level – contact us for more information!

This is the side by side showing the original snap shot and how the image was painted