It depends, in part, on how her paintings are received by those who request them.

"If their gratitude holds up, I'll hold up," she said.

A simple word of thanks puts fuel in her drive. A mother's account of how she connects with her son every day by looking at his portrait in her hall. A father who drove from Texas to meet Hancock and accept her painting.

"It sends a lot of love into the universe — and that has to be a good thing," she said.

The war in Iraq has lasted longer than she'd ever imagined. Soldiers keep dying and the requests keep rolling in.

Despite some help from a private donor, the project is costing Hancock plenty (more than $16,000 of her own money). She hopes more artists will want to lend their talents toward her cause.

Nevertheless, Hancock presses on.

Outside her ranch on a recent summer afternoon, a rooster crows. Chicken eggs lie unattended outside the coop. With the music turned down, you can hear the calls of her kids, goats with names like Goldie, Pixie Babe, Checkers and Licorice, to name a few.

In her basement are other projects, still lifes, unfinished paintings of coal miners. She has other things to do, but upstairs she continues to paint Blodgett's portrait.

"People just don't appreciate what these guys do," she said.

In her slippers held together by duct tape, she steps back from the canvas, moves forward and applies color to Blodgett's gun.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com