Do portrait artists only cater to the affluent?

[Margaret Port]

A few years ago I was approached by a pensioner lady whose mother had recently died. Of course the only photo she had was a poor quality passport sized little image which couldn't be enlarged by photographic means. Could I help her? What I noticed was that she was very much like her mother in appearance so I agreed to do a pastel portrait. I knew she wasn't well off so quoted $300 framed, which she accepted.

I don't have a great long term visual memory so as soon as she left, while I could still remember her image, I quickly sketched her. I then used a magnifying glass to see details in the photo which allowed me to adapt the sketch to the mother's image.

After waiting a decent amount of time I asked her to come back for her approval before it was framed.

She burst into tears and couldn't stop thanking me.

I had it framed and when she came to pick it up she paid me $300 in $1 coins.

She had been saving up for more than a year to get that portrait done.