Cpl Shane Keating

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Painting this portrait of Corporal Shane Keating was, for me a humble but extremely rewarding experience. I must thank his mother, Judy Budd, for making it possible for me to get to know Shane; for sharing her photos, the letters, the stories of this exceptional young man and Shane’s writings in his own hand. Not only do I feel honoured that I was able to paint Shane’s portrait, I feel blessed to have met a wonderful new friend, Judy, who is also an artist.

Shairl Honey

Painting with friends

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:41:00 +0000

For several summers now, Shairl (centre) and I (right) have spent three weeks in Newfoundland painting scenes there en plein air (outdoor painting).

Although we have a fairly grueling schedule while there, painting from sunup to sundown most days, it is well worth it because it helps keep our painting skills finely tuned, and it is also a lot of fun.

This year was extra special for us. We were very busy painting portraits of fallen Canadian soldiers before we left, so we took a couple of the portraits with us to work on in case there was a rainy day that we couldn’t work outside. We were also very fortunate to also take along Judy Budd, mother of one of the fallen soldiers (left).

Judy used to paint, but for the last three years since her son died in Afghanistan, she had not picked up a paintbrush. When Shairl and I visited her earlier this year, we immediately liked this woman and within a few hours of talking to her we invited her to join us on our painting trip this summer. A day or two later she accepted.

Although she hadn’t painted in several years, she painted with us every day and when our trip was done, she had created as many paintings as I did. For those who don’t paint, that may sound easy, but it is actually hard work and not very comfortable at all. We painted at the edge of the ocean some days and we were so cold that we painted with as many layers of sweaters that we had with us and had shirts tied around our heads and socks on our hands to be able to withstand the wind and bitter cold. Other days, inland, the heat and sun were brutal. In the evenings we had to fend off mosquitos, some days we were rained on…

Not only did Judy stick with the painting (and us), but she created some excellent paintings and she kept us laughing with her great sense of humor.

Now that we are home and getting back to painting ‘our’ fallen heroes, we are doing it with an even greater connection than ever before, and we feel so blessed by the new friendship we have made with Judy, and the friendships that are developing with families of other fallen soldiers.

In the photo above, Shairl is shown with the painting that she painted of Judy while Judy was painting a NFLD scene. It will always remind me of the strength, determination, and wonderful kindness and humor of our amazing new friend, Judy.

- Susan Abma

Personal Time With A War Hero

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:58:00 +0000

This pencil drawing was done with the photos of Cpl. Shane Keating at hand. I wanted to explore his face and get to know his structure before starting the portrait painting.
Drawing out these heroes before I start painting them gives me personal time to get to know them.
I can imagine their strength, their love of Canada, and their dedication to their cause.
It’s important to me to attempt to capture not only their physical self, but their spiritual self as well.
- Shairl

Project Heroes » Cpl. Shane Keating

Cpl Shane Keating

Painting with friends

Personal Time With A War Hero