[There's a pang of- not quite pity. Empathy, maybe, understanding.]

You tell me what they looked like. An' then I'll try to picture 'em and do a bunch of sketches. And then I'll show you 'em and you can say 'the nose on that one's right, but the eyes are like the one on that one over there' until I get it right. Then you give me a few days to finish the painting, and I'll have 'em walk out of the picture so you can say your goodbyes.

...won't be real. But it'll feel real. Dunno if it'll be enough, but it might help.