Lynn Riggin stood in the Henderson studio of artist Tamara Geddes looking at an image of her and her son on canvas. The mother of two boys commissioned a painting from Geddes and was doing her first sitting for the artist. “There’s so much detail,” she said. “Like how he’s holding my hand. Those little things they do when they’re babies, you forget.”The 18-month-old blond haired boy perched on his mother’s hip in the painting is 15 now. Riggin said she wanted to commemorate her son’s childhood. “That’s the way you remember your kids,” Riggin said. “You have so many intimate moments when they’re babies. And to you, they’re this age forever.”
Whether it is an image from the present or the past, Geddes likes to meet with her subjects to learn their coloring and mannerisms. She said children can’t sit for hours like she asks adults to, but she wants to see the child in person before she begins. The artist takes plenty of photos to get the hair, skin and eye colors exact.

Geddes said she is particular about eyes. She said the eyes bring the person to life in the painting and she wants to get the depth and colors exactly right. The artist has painted many pieces where she is just focused on the eyes. She said those paintings tell a story just as much as if the entire face or body was on the canvas.

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