Teen turns grief into hope by painting portraits for mourning families

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- When a loved one dies, photographs often become the last tangible memory. For one local high school student, helping families cope with loss means creating something more personal: hand-painted portraits of those who have passed away.

"I want to ensure that every portrait is proof that someone lived, that they mattered," said 16-year-old Hugh Saetia.

For Hugh, every portrait is a memory. When he was just 6-years-old, his mother died from gastrointestinal cancer. His nanny, Marilyn Mcallister, became a mother figure, and years later, when she lost her son, Hugh felt her pain.

"As a 14-year-old with no money or no counseling degree, no words that could fix what she felt, I thought to myself 'What could I do?'" Hugh said. "And then my dad said, 'Why don't you paint him?'"

"When Hugh called me last night, he made me cry," Mcallister said. "He told me, he said 'I couldn't have done it without you, Marilyn.'"

Mcallister's reaction told Hugh he could help even more families, and that idea became his nonprofit, The Eternal Canvas Foundation. For the past two years, he's painted more than 50 portraits for families grieving loved ones.

Jim and Ashley Savela's son, Ford, passed away a year ago. He was killed in a hit-and-run the day the Palisades fire began.

The Savelas say in the chaos of that day, their loss felt overlooked, making it all the more meaningful when Hugh presented them with a portrait at their son's celebration of life.

"These beautiful portraits of my Ford, it reminds me that there is still beauty and goodness in the world," Ashley Savela said. "Your mind plays tricks on you, like he never existed, and here's the proof that he was seen and that he was loved and that he mattered."

"Sometimes it takes someone who has experienced that kind of loss to try recognize it and do something to try to honor, maybe as deserving as he should have been when his mother passed away," said Jim Savela. "So, I think that that is something maybe a torch that he's carrying forward."

Hugh says each portrait is provided at no cost to the family, funded entirely by himself. He says he believes grief shouldn't be limited by socioeconomic status. For mor information on the eternal canvas foundation, or to donate, visit www.eternalcanvas.org.