About Us

From its humble beginnings in the family garage to a mini museum in the Preston Scout House, Portraits of Honour has come a long way and still has so far it can go, and so much it can do. Portraits of Honour started life as a thank you to all the service men and women, especially those who lost their lives while on active duty, who protect our wonderful country and provide Peacekeeping services throughout the rest of the world. 

 

While sitting at Tim Horton's having a coffee with his Veteran buddies, Dave Sopha, the founder and artist behind Portraits of Honour was personally touched by an article in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspaper from 2008 about the 100th Canadian fallen hero. This article covered the entire front page with the faces of these brave men and women. He felt an overwhelming desire to honour every one of them, he wanted to say thank you to these people and their families. They deserved at least that much. As a father of four himself, he felt the need to help these families in their time of grieving, to show them that their loved ones did not die in vain and will never be forgotten.

 

So he took that page from the newspaper, which is still in the museum today, down to the family garage, where he had a studio of sorts already set up. With over 40 years of experience as an airbrush artist, Dave decided to switch out the airbrush for oil and got to work. What started as a way to honour those who have protected our country grew to a massive 40’ by 9’ canvas and was officially deemed a National Treasure in 2011 by then Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. With this decision, Dave’s goal to make sure that all Canadians come together to remember, honour, and celebrate our Canadian Forces, was born.

 

Eventually, word got around that Dave was doing this and Kin Canada offered up a space in their building on Hal Rogers Dr, in Riverside Park in Cambridge, Ontario. It was only being used as storage, so with help, they cleared it out, cleaned it up, and set up the canvas along the wall, stretched to its limits. It was in this building that the portrait finally saw completion with some minor touch-ups but in fact, the Portraits of Honour had its final Fallen Soldier portrait finished at Juno Beach Center in Normandy, France in October 2013. It was then flown back, set up, and touched up one last time before Dave signed it upon completion.   

 

It took over 6 years, filled with late nights, long days, and so many weekends they lost count, and the portrait was truly starting to take shape. Before its completion in 2014, Dave and the Portraits of Honour team, along with the help of Kin Canada and its membership from coast to coast, were able to tour it around the country. They were able to meet with most of the families of the men and women he’d painted or was still yet to paint and so many others were in awe of what Dave was doing for these amazing people. The tour lasted seven months. During the same year the portrait was finally completed (2014), the campaign in Afghanistan ended. It felt full circle, fulfilling, and poignant.

 

From that first tour in 2011, Portraits of Honour was flooded with requests for the painting to return to various cities, or make a debut in cities it has yet to be displayed. So many people want to see this National treasure in person for themselves and remember all the sacrifices that happened to give them their freedom. We believe it is so important to have the means to be able to fulfill these requests from our fellow Canadians so we are happy to announce that we are now booking events for the rest of 2025 and all of 2026. Please email us at portraitsofhonour1111@gmail.com. We will book on a first come, first serve basis so please book in quickly if you'd like this stunning portrait at your event!