Titled 'Vera', this 12" x 16" oil painting features an elderly woman stringing Christmas lights in the cold December air.

It's a good portrait because it not only captures her likeness, but also her activity - which can be just as unique as the lines on your face or the color of your hair. You see every year - for more decades than anyone could remember - this woman would put on her trademark coat and march out onto her small, carefully manicured lawn with a box of old Christmas lights. Just picture the scene: The December sky was always whitish-grey. The leaves had long since fallen from the trees. And in the cold, there was a stillness in the air - nothing was moving....and there wasn't a sound to be heard....except for this womans barely audible grunts and gasps as she pushed against the hedge, trying to string these gigantic blue bulbs as the branches scratched against her brown jacket.

Life is full of these small, perfect moments. The key is to recognize them when they happen.

-Charles Clifford Clear III