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Back in the day,before color film was invented artists would hand paint a black and white photo with oils to simulate colors. I have always loved this technique and learned to “hand tint” 28 years ago when I was at Memphis College of Arts. One of my all time favorite portraits I have ever done is a life size black and white handtinted of my youngest child Hannah when she was 6 years old. This portrait measures 5 feet by 4 feet and makes quite a statement in my dining room.  The paper used to print these portraits are archival to 200 plus years so they become treasured heirlooms. I have several portraits I have handtinted  of my girls over the years and I  never get tired of looking at them. Recently I finally got around to hand tinting a portrait of my oldest daughter Ashlee from when she was 12 years old. It was taken in the most beautiful place in Miami ; the John Deer estate, Vizcaya. I took a few photos while in the process of hand tinting it to show you how it transforms an image. It saddens me to think this is becoming just another lost art in our world of technology. Today when a photographer wants to handtint an image they just de-saturate the color image or throw a filter on it. The is just a facsimile of the real thing as you can never get the depth, or organic quality that a true black and white image painted with real oils produce. It takes me hours and hours to paint a portrait and create a work of art that will last many lifetimes. For me I have always been about creating art and I’m glad that I took the time to create these beautiful portraits of my daughters that their children will cherish one day as well. The generations coming along will always be able to have a tangible history of me (as the artist) and their moms of a precious reminder of a time long gone by.