OUR LITTLE CHILDREN COME HOME

Charles at 18 Months

Steven at 18 Months

Alisa at 18 Months

Karen at 24 Months

Jennifer at 18 Months

Soon after Charles was born in 1969, Corinne met a woman named Corinne West who was exhibiting her work at White's Art Gallery in Montrose, California. Because their names were spelled the same way, Corinne began following her work. Corinne W. was relatively unknown at the time. When Charles was 18 months old, Corinne E, commissioned Corinne W to paint a watercolor of him. The cost of the painting and the framing was less than $200. As each new grandchild turned 18 months, they were taken down to Venice, California, to Corinne W.'s new beautiful studio. Each was photographed numerous times, and over the next year they were painted. When Art was alive, he and Corinne took the children for their sitting, sometimes with the parents and sometimes without. Art died a month before Karen was born, so the trip down to the beach became the responsibility of the parents. Hence, Karen was not painted until she turned 24 months.

Over the years, 17 grandchildren were painted and lined the walls in a double row in the living room of their Grandmother's La Canada, California, home. When Corinne turned 91 and moved to an assisted living facility in Utah, the pictures came with her and a double row lined her living room walls. Today, a painting equal to Charles', would cost over $2000. Corinne West Hartley has become well known. I once saw a copy of one of her paintings on the rack at Marshall's for about $50.

With her death, the paintings have been given to their parents. We now have our five. I guess they are not returning home, because they have never lived with us. We welcome them and look forward to enjoying their little faces each morning as we exit our bedroom.