Arthur Smith, famed pastel portrait artist, will be at Park Memorial United Methodist Church this week doing a benefit for the American Cancer Society.

Smith, a native Trojan, will generously donate one-third of his fee to the Pike County Relay for Life campaign. Smith has also agreed to do the16x20-inch pastel portraits for $100 for this fundraising activity.

Kay Franklin, ACS community representative, said an artist’s portrait of this quality would cost much more and she is greatly appreciative of Smith’s generosity and his support of the 2009 Pike County Relay for Life campaign.

Smith will be in Troy March 5-9 doing portraits and the finished work will be available for take home in a week’s time.

Nedetria Talbot, a member of the Park Memorial Relay team, is taking appointments for the photo sessions with Smith.

“Arthur will work from personal photographs but he much prefers to take his own,” Talbot said. “From the photographs, he will complete most of the portrait but will ask each subject to come back in for a 15-minute portrait sitting and the portrait will be ready to take home following that sitting.”

There is no sitting fee and Smith’s photographs are part of the package. The total fee is $100 for a 16×20 single subject portrait and $50 for each additional face in a group.

“I work with all ages,” Smith said. “I always joke that, for me to do a portrait, you just have to be born. I don’t work from sonograms. Really, I’m good with little kids. There’s a part of me that never became an adult so I relate really well.”

Smith will also do pets but a pet is considered an additional face so there will be an additional $50 fee for a pet. Smith is the son of Moon Smith and the brother of Dan and Ben Smith and Lucille Blair. He has a degree in art from Troy University and has been doing pastel and oil portraits for 34 years.

To schedule an appointment for a pastel portrait, call Talbot at 334-735-2759 or 334-606-3637.