Portraits From The Heart

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By By John Sharify

Summary

A local artist is helping families who've lost loved ones in Iraq; he's painting the soldiers' portraits.

Story Published: Jul 15, 2004 at 11:29 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM PDT

Portraits From The Heart
SEATTLE - Mike Reagan figures he's drawn 10,000 portraits over the years.

On this day it's a portrait of a President. President Reagan, no relation. "He's actually the first President that I did and I've done six since then," says Reagan.

A President one day, a celebrity the next.

"Everybody loves this piece," he says while he shows KOMO 4 News a portrait he did of Tom Cruise.

Just the other day, he drew a portrait of a soldier. Joe Colgan's son Ben.

"Ben, Benny, Benjamin. I call him everything, " Joe Colgan laughs as he says it.

"I draw every day," says Reagan.

Reagan lives to draw. It's like breathing. His survival depends on it. "Everytime I do a drawing I'm actually giving somebody a piece of my life," he says.

He tells us the story of a mom named Ruth, someone he talked to just once. And hopes he will never talk to again.

"Ruth called me and said 'My son is fighting in the war. In Fallujah.'" Reagan prayed for his survival and then told the mom plain and simple. "I said I will say a prayer that I will never have to talk to you again," Reagan told her.

You see, Reagan offers to do portraits of soldiers who will never come home.

Ben Colgan. 30 years old. A father of three.

"Everybody loved Ben," says Joe Colgan, his father. Joe stares at the portrait, which he's just hung up on the wall and says "Unbelievable."

These portraits are a labor of love, helping families heal. When Reagan draws the portraits, it's because "I really believe they're dying for me," he says.

And when he drew Cody Calavan's portrait he was saying to Cody's Dad and Mom in Lake Stevens "Thank you."

"She said in a conversation this morning, she wakes up with her son smiling at her instead of waking up to the horror of the reality that their son is gone," he says.

We learned something about Mike Reagan. He's determined to help families heal because he is still healing himself.

"I say a prayer," he says. "First thing that comes to mind is Vietnam. The first thing that comes to mind is the guys I held when they die and didn't want to die".

It's for the guys he held, who never made it home. The portraits that come from the heart.

If you'd like to contact Michael Reagan about the portraits you can reach him at www.michaelgreaganartist.com