Several weeks ago, the week of Feb. 4, to be exact, The Post Searchlight published an article about Trent Beard, a local artist who won the People’s Choice award at the Decatur County Artists Membership winter exhibit. We mentioned that his work had attracted the attention of a lady by the name of Susan Hammer from south-central Florida, who drove here to see the exhibit on her own.

She was so impressed by his work, especially the woodburning portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., that she wanted to see it in person, as well as meet the artist.

“There was something about the eyes of the Martin Luther King work that just caught my attention,” she explained.

She had also read a couple of articles about Beard that had appeared in The Post Searchlight, and a local friend had posted her information about Beard on Facebook.

She said she arrived in Bainbridge in the midst of a severe rainstorm, one with possible tornadic winds, to find some ladies playing bridge as they volunteered as greeters at the Firehouse Gallery. After viewing the exhibit, she asked how to find the artist, and was directed to the Logue Brothers Furniture store on Dothan Road, where Beard has his studio.

He was there working on a project, and she asked him if he would do a portrait of her two grandchildren. She gave him photos of Sawyer, age 2, her son, Zachary Grannen and newborn Elliott. The two agreed on price and terms, and Hammer returned home.

This week, she came back to Bainbridge to see the first of the oil portraits, a composite of her son and the two boys. She was very excited about what she saw as she studied the life-like painting, exclaiming about the detail in the baby’s hands and the hair on their heads.

Beard will be doing a second portrait of just the two boys.