When Eleanor was four, my mother-in-law took her in for a portrait sitting by with Lee Bennion Udall. She’s considered by many to be Utah’ss most accomplished female artist. I love her art; it has a vibrant folk-art quality that is poignant and appealing. We thought Eleanor matched her style of painting, so we just asked Lee to do the painting any way she wanted. Lee was so pleased with the results that when she was asked to submit a few paintings for an exhibit at the Springville Museum of Art, she chose the portrait of Eleanor!
We got to go see Eleanor in a museum!
WOW!
Ella’s been immortalized . . . as a four-year-old. Nice, eh? Randy and Kathryn own this painting, and it usually hangs in their kitchen/living room area. Katie is always excited to see it; she often spends long periods of time waving her arms and babbling at it. I can’t decide if she recognizes Eleanor, or just sees a human face and wants to interact.
That is really cool.