Shane and Julia Conrad show off a painting and two prints they purchased from Dry Canyon artist Rick Thompson depicting themselves and two friends that they surprisingly discovered at the Dry Canyon Arts Spring Art Show in Redmond.

Shane and Julia Conrad were walking through aisles of art May 7 in Redmond when something familiar caught their eye: themselves.

There they were, floating leisurely down the Deschutes River in a painting by local artist Rich Thompson. The Conrads recognized everything in the artwork — the boats, the life jackets, the curve in the river near Riverbend Park in Bend.

It was them. They were sure of it.

“My friend’s kayak has very unique colors and I’m usually wearing my same jacket and helmet,” said Julia. “The more I looked, the more it was us.”

Thompson was on the other side of the room at the Dry Canyon Art Association’s Spring Art Show, held at the High Desert Music Hall in Redmond, when he first noticed the couple holding up a few of his prints and pushing their noses as close as possible.

“The woman explains that it was her in the print,” Thompson said. “Not only that, she was able to identify all four kayakers — who was her friend, who was the instructor.”

She seemed stunned.

“Admittedly, it’d be a shock to go to an art show and see a painting of yourself,” said Thompson.

Thompson had finished the painting they were looking at about two years earlier. Inspired by 19th Century artist Thomas Eakins, he had ventured down the river to cast his artist’s eye on water and boaters.

“I hadn’t done any waterscapes and I wanted to try it,” he said.

When Thompson goes for a walk, he always has his camera with him. On this day about two years ago, he ventured across a footbridge over the Deschutes in Bend as kayakers and tubers floated beneath him. He took a dozen or so photographs. After looking at them closely, he found himself drawn to one in particular — a group of four that he said had the best combination of color and form.

Two years later, he would later find out that photo was of the Conrads and their friends.

And as shocking as it was for the Conrads to see themselves in fine art, it was just as shocking for Thompson, who mostly does landscape work.

“I don’t have a lot of paintings with people at all,” he said. “So it’s pretty remarkable to find some of my subjects appear before by eyes.”

— Jackie Petrovic contributed to this story.