Noah Bear

A lovely sensitively painted portrait of your grandson Thea. Your love for him shines through!

Congratulations Thea on a really sensitive portrait - you have succeeded in combining the child and the emotions. Stirred my emotions too.

Beautiful beautiful portrait of your dear grandson Thea, so full of emotion and love. How well you have captured the deep sadness in his eyes is remarkable. I hope that he will be happy again soon.

Thank you very much Christine, Sharon and Satu for such understanding and lovely comments. Noah was recently formally diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum, although we have known about it for a long time. As these kids get older, the difference between them and the rest of the world starts to impact more and more on them, which makes things difficult for them. However, as we have three such kids in our family, he is in good company and we understand as a family how to help. I didn't actually realise when I started this portrait what would come out of it and when I saw his little face on the paper, I nearly cried.

I just love children and feel so frustrated that I am not able to smile and chat with them when out -also have 6 grandchildren myself and love them all so much - so you can guess I was really taken with this - great portrait painted with such feeling.

Thank you so much, Michael. I adore my four grandchildren and I am so lucky because they all live within spitting distance of me, so I am heavily involved in their lives on a daily basis. I did the school run for the two older ones today (15 and 13) and we went for our usual clandestine Starbucks moment, which they love! Spoiling them is half the fun, don't you agree?

Super portrait, painted with love.

Thank you very much, Stephen - very kind of you. P.S. How come I always seem to get caught by an MP!!

Beautifully captured. It's a wonderful portrait Thea. It's alive and "real" if that makes sense. Hopefully the MP will take up your advice!

Thank you so much, Gudrun, for you lovely comment. I think I am jinxed when it comes to posting just before an MP. I can't tell you the number of times it has happened!!

What an incredibly moving portrait Thea. I only "know" your family from these beautiful portraits you produce of them but with this one there is something more ( not good with words so I can't describe exactly what I mean ) and it brought tears to my eyes just looking at it.

Great portrait with wonderful expression Thea, great palette.

Val, that is such a lovely comment and I thank you for your sensitivity. Carole, thank you so much for your lovely comment - so much appreciated.

Excellent work Thea and so obviously heart felt. Our 7yr old has now been diagnosed with Dispraxia, a form of autism and it wasn't found until last year but by then we were all puzzled as to his change of character and behaviour and didn't know how to handle it and also his parents were in a sort of denial about his condition. It's been a problem and now we can all face it and adjust. Not easy and I only wish I could get him as interested in artwork as much as his 9yr old brother and his 7 yr old cousin.

You've definitely captured the emotions, Thea. I hope it will pick up for Noah soon, it's so tough for a little child to go through such anxiety.

Thank you so much Derek, and you obviously understand the problem. It isn't all bad news though as these kids are amazing. Noah is so clever and often comes out with stunningly logical thoughts and very surprising insight into life in general. I learn a lot from the kids in our family who are affected by having Aspergers. Thank you very much, Seok. At least Noah has a very supportive extended family who are always there to support him, which helps a lot.

What a very moving portrait, Thea. You captured his emotions very, very well. I was moved when I saw it. Very well done.

Thank you very much, Mia - that is a lovely reaction and feedback.

All your portraits are beautiful... but this is special... close to the heart...

Thank you so much, Smita, for such a lovely comment.

Only just found this one Thea, just beautiful.

Thank you so much, Karyl, it is nice of you to say that.

Lovely painting Thea of a beautiful little boy!

Thank you very much, Louise - that's really kind of you to say that.

Apologies Thea, I've only come across this one now, lovely sensitive portrait of Noah Bear, thank heavens he's got you and a loving family to support him.