Dear Friends and Family,

It feels very odd to write this letter to you. Mike and I have been very concerned about an issue regarding Penelope. Penelope is on the autistic spectrum and attends a very good school called Oakstone Academy. There is a scholarship that covers her tuition as a part time student but if we want her to attend full-day, it will cost an additional $7500. We feel that it will greatly benefit her to attend full-day this next year. It really is something that we cannot afford while Mike is attending grad school. Mike and I have been inspired to reach out to you and to do a fundraiser.

We feel that this is the right place for Penelope. Her classroom is half children on the spectrum and half peer models. The class lessons are typical for the age but the staff and attitudes are amazing. The atmosphere is trained and caring. The resources are effective. I think that almost every adult in the building knows Pen’s name. She is adored. I have had many experiences that have told me that she is in the good hands and the best situation to help her thrive.

Mike is offering to make for you caricature-style illustration portraits of single or multiple family members. I was just looking at caricature websites and his portraits are unique in style because they resemble professional magazine and storybook illustrations rather than a formulaic sketch. Details are on the back of this letter.

We are blessed everyday by Penelope being our daughter. We feel humbled by this current experience and know that we are being guided by God. We are bringing up our children with the most care that we can and in the best way that we can. Please do not feel pressured or awkward because of this letter. I love my family portraits and we really are very happy to be able to offer you the opportunity to have one too. We appreciate your love and friendship.

This is the hardest part of this letter that I have had to write: if you do not want a portrait but would like to donate toward our purpose, we would appreciate that too. I know that Heavenly Father offers us blessings through helping others and I feel that He has encouraged us to open ourselves up to being helped. But it is really hard, so if you do that, please let me bake you some cookies or watch your kids or something in return.

Sincerely and with love,
Candace, Mike, Eva & Penelope Laughead

Illustrated Portraits

As our fundraiser, Mike would like to offer to sell you original artwork caricature-style family portraits or single family member portraits. These can be simple or themed. The style will not include background images, similar to photography portraits.
You get to choose the theme. The themes for our family have been Native Americans, cheerleaders, astronauts, elves, Star Wars, rock stars, Harry Potter-style wizards, and fairy tale characters. You may choose one we have used or something else that you think of. Just make sure to choose something that you love. Here are some more suggestions: Frankenstein and a monster family, vampires, a favorite movie or musical cast, a movie or television cartoon character or family of characters(Disney princesses or Buzz Lightyear), superheroes, super-villains, video game characters, or athletes.

Characters/creatures without human faces, such as animals and many puppets, are fantastic to be in the portrait next to your family or child, but it is difficult to make your child look like a dog, for instance, because we want to make sure your child is recognizable in the portrait. If your child’s favorite character is large, it is possible for him or her to be riding the creature as well (such as a dragon or one of the cars from Cars).

The starting recommended donation for these portraits will be $100, because unlike caricatures, they take a significant amount of time to create. This portrait took Mike about 5 hours. Please consider increasing that donation per person because of the increased time. But, like we said, this is something we are doing for Penelope, so if you have questions please talk to us.
If you have Mike caricature more than one family member, you may choose to have them on the same or separate portraits. Any character that you are portrayed as or with will be illustrated in Mike’s artistic style. Mike will retain the actual rights to the artwork but you will have the file and may print it or display it for any personal use.

If you would like a more detailed illustration that includes background images like our family portraits, please make arrangements with Mike.

Please feel free to pass this on to someone else that you think would be interested.

Past Laughead Family Portraits: