Watercolor Family Portrait Gift

So pleased and proud of my husband for making this beautiful family portrait in watercolor for his Mom! It was quite an accomplishment with so many people included. I helped a tiny bit with doing some of the coloring but he came up with the layout which I love—his parents surrounded by clusters of their children with their own families, even those who have passed on. It’s crazy how even without faces we still know who everyone is!

It’s always hard shopping for those who have everything and who have given you so much. My husband struggles with finding gifts for his beloved Mom. This year we made an effort and brainstormed together. The difference is before buying anything, for each person I wrote down things we had been talking about lately (or things that always come up), things I knew were important to them.

I had been thinking about this since we had been doing watercolor projects everyday. His Mom’s greatest treasure is her family. She loves family portraits, but it’s been a long time since our last one and there’s been lots of change. I had made a faceless watercolor portrait of my own family and loved it, so it seemed like something she might like. Jeremy jumped at the idea! In high school he wanted to be an artist and is quite talented, so he could even DIY it! Time was already running out so it worked out that we didn’t have to wait for something to be made and then shipped.

Christmas Eve in true Lloyd fashion, it was inspiring seeing him think through the placement, talking to each member of the family to get reference photos, putting together a sketch for consistent sizing, planning out colors… After I put the kids to bed, he had finished his sketch so we worked side by side until 2am. He decided to paint everyone—a total of 31 people including all grandchildren, and those we love who have passed on like his father and our nephew. He considered how old Graham would be now, and made him look like a combination of his siblings in hair color, style, and face shape. I cried when I saw it.

I had a BLAST creating art with my husband! We spent hours mixing colors for white and Mexican skin tones, jet black to blonde hair, clothing that coordinated for each family but also cohesively went together (the reference photos were SO important for that!). We watched YouTube videos on desaturating orange by adding blue (such a surprise!), fixing mistakes we made, and “making it work”. I taught him some techniques I learned using a paper towel which led to some happy accidents with creating texture, and he taught me how to get a super-fine tip by rotating my brush. He let me paint a buffalo check pattern in black (an unforgiving color in watercolor), and I let him redo his Mom’s clothing because I don’t know how I made her look pregnant but I did… I felt so special when he turned it over so we could sign the back together. It turned out better than I could have imagined! ​​

He snapped a photo of the finished product and sent it to his siblings to see what they thought and if his Mom would like it. I don’t think we could have anticipated the overwhelming feedback, everyone wanted their own copy! He still has one single brother who plans on having a family someday and asked for a 2nd version in a couple of years when he gets married. Jer couldn’t wait to give it to his Mom! We set it on the bookshelf so we could enjoy it Christmas morning, and wrapped it up in the kids’ watercolor gift wrap when it was time to go. Jer realized how much he liked looking at it to see the whole family now that they were all so far away, and said that he definitely needed to make another one for us to have at home.

I think his Mom was so touched and surprised, especially when she saw her beloved husband next to her, surrounded by all the family they had raised. She was crying she loved it so much, especially when she found out Jeremy was the one who painted it. I think her reaction was more than he had hoped for! I even found a post she wrote about it the day after:

“I received the best Christmas gift something that money can’t buy! Jeremy painted this picture of our family words could not describe what I was feeling only tears of gratitude for my family and the love we have.”

He said he’s in trouble now, can’t top it next year!