Oscar Pistorius was immediately smitten over Reeva Steenkamp.
That's what an artist, who was in the middle painting a series of oil images on the double-amputee sprinter when he shot and killed Steenkamp on Valentine's Day, 2013, now has revealed.
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The Mirror is reporting that artist Natalie Holland is putting her Pistorius exhibit, titled "The Interrupted Portrait" on display this week of London that features two portraits of Pistorius, along with a half-finished work that Holland stopped - in mid-stroke - when she learned of Steenkamp's death.
"I couldn't believe it," Holland told the Mirror. "He seemed like such a nice, normal guy. I had spent hours painting him and had grown close to him, learning about his life and personality.
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"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news."
The Mirror reported that Holland dropped her paintbrush in shock when she heard Pistorius had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Holland began painting Pistorius in 2010, two years before he became internationally recognized as the first double-amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics, which took place in London. She completed two portraits, which can be seen on the Mirror website and was in the middle of her third when Steenkamp died and her sessions with the "Blade Runner" came to a halt.
She said Pistorius, who had been dating Steenkamp for just three months at the time of her death, never mentioned her by name but told Holland that he had met someone.
"He said it was difficult for him to have a private life as he had to train," Holland said. "But he said he'd met a wonderful girl.
"He said he wanted to get married and start a family soon."
Holland's comments could be important in the context of the claims of June Steenkamp, Reeva's mother, who said she was sure Reeva was about to break up with Pistorius.
Holland, who admitted to being "fascinated" by Pistorius, said she could never bring herself to finish the third Pistorius portrait.
"Now it feels like a testimony to the history of Oscar Pistorius, what happened to him, how he lost glory in one second of madness," she told the Mirror. "There was no way to continue painting after I heard the news. I had to leave it.
"Being unfinished the painting tells its own story of what happened. It's unique."
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