Portrait Of A Lady

Two weekends ago, after meeting with a friend at a bookstore cafe for tea, I was approached by a stranger. I'd noticed this woman staring at me the entire time I was visiting with my friend, but assumed she'd just been admiring Bryony. With her mass of dark curls, Bryony often attracts a lot of attention, so I've been slowly getting used to it. After bidding my friend good-bye and leaving the cafe, I found myself engrossed in the clearance sale books in the bookstore foyer. It was then that the woman approached me.

"Excuse me, can I talk to you?" She walked up to where I was standing, and I recognized her as the woman from inside the cafe.

"Sure" I responded, not sure at all where this was headed.

"Well, you see, I was sketching your portrait in the cafe, but then you got up and left" she hurriedly explained, before rushing on, "here, this is the picture I was sketching of you...you're really stunning!" She showed me the rough sketch she'd drawn of me, and I noticed handwritten remarks underneath--Darn! I was sketching this woman and then she left before I had the chance to finish!

I hated to think that I actually looked like her sketch; there was absolutely nothing "stunning" about me at all. I smiled in spite of myself--a compliment is a compliment after all--but I couldn't quite believe it, as much as I wanted to. There had to be a hook.

"Let me show you my card, I'm an artist" the woman said as she rummaged through her bag for a business card. "We artists often have to identify ourselves because we come across so weird!"

After quickly examining her business card, I felt myself letting down my guard a bit. I smiled. "Nice to meet you."

The woman introduced herself as Barb, and said that she was in town for the birth of her first grandchild. "I live in Boston, but I'm here waiting for that baby to be born!" she said as she gazed down at Bryony, who was lazily observing the entire exchange. I congratulated her on soon becoming a grandmother and then stood there, a little uncomfortable, as she got to the point.

"Do you mind if I take your picture? I'd like to finish the sketch, and I could e-mail you with the finished product, free of charge of course!" She looked at me hopefully.

I was taken aback by all this. Why was this woman sketching me of all people? I know I could be classified as cute or maybe attractive, but stunning? Come on! I am definitely not the type of woman that artists choose to sketch...and certainly not the type that they hunt down in order to finish the portrait.

"Sure" I replied, incredulously. Immediately, she ran out of the store, calling out to an unseen person to get her camera from the car. At this point, I was so self-conscious and embarassed that I tried to delve back into the clearance sale cookbooks I'd been eyeing earlier. But she was back before I knew it, and started clicking away. I didn't know whether to smile or not, so I tried to think of what I must've looked like when she was originally sketching me...what I must've looked like when I was unaware I was being sketched. Customers were walking in and out of the store, staring as Barb snapped away at me from different angles. I wanted to take Bryony and run for the car, but the other part of me felt a great respect for her as an artist. I used to sketch a lot when I was younger, and so it was really an honor (on some level) to serve as a model for a real, professional artist.

After she was finished taking pictures of me, she asked if she could take a few of Bryony. At this point, my guard was down and the idea that I might get a free sketch of my baby was incentive enough. "Sure!" I replied for the millionth time.

Once she was finished, I gave her my e-mail address and she thanked me, saying that it might be awhile before she was back in Boston and able to post anything to her website. "I'm not going anywhere until my daughter has that baby!"

As soon as I got home, I told Adam about this strange encounter. Later that night, I went online to see her website. After seeing her sketches, I'm now REALLY hoping that she not only finishes the one of me, but also does one of Bryony. I'd love to have a decent print of it to hang up in her room.

If you want to check out the artist's site, her name is Barb Bromley. Maybe one day soon she'll post a sketch of my stunning self up there...or maybe that of my beautiful baby. I'd be okay with that.