I found a collection of photographs from when my stunning grandmother was more or less my age. It is so interesting for me to look at her and compare her to myself. Not just looks-wise, but to stop and consider what she was doing, interested in, what was fun for her (which often coincides with the things I enjoy). Its a way of knowing someone who is, but also who they were. She is a person in my life, but only as I know her now. Its like I am getting to meet a new person and getting to know her as I spend time with these paintings. I have also chosen this series to merely commemorate my grandma’s beauty. What a foxy stunner. And to flatter her. Little did she know 50 years ago just soakin’ the sun, I would make her art. FOREVER.

The process you see is the following: I have done my best to separate the image into 2 layers: background (for lack a better term) and subjects (for lack of a better term). The background is painted first quickly and loosely with acrylic paint. Laid as a blanket or foundation. I choose one hue to lay the subjects in, on top of the background. I do this with oil paint, and I carefully only paint the dark values and shadows. Any light area is left as negative space for your eye to fill in the rest of the subject and to also see through to the background. This layering, in this series in particular, rings true to the concept of memory, or the getting to know a real person as she is now, but also just a glimpse back into the person she was, which I will only ever be able to see part.