Painting the past

I had painted my grandmother on my dad’s side a while back.

The painting is based on this tiny black and white photo of my grandmother, probably in the early 1930’s—dressed up fancy for a Sunday drive.

My interpretation from the photo: “Merlyn” 24 x 18 oil on canvas. A lot of people liked this painting, maybe because it reminded them of vintage photos they had seen of family members. Even though this was during the Depression, my grandmother and her sister were excellent seamstresses and could make beautiful clothes.

After that painting, my mom and aunt asked me when I would paint their mother. I had wanted to paint my maternal grandmother in her youth but didn’t think my photo references were that interesting until I found this one.

Both the bicycle and the pants convey a sense of freedom and independence to me. There is no documentation but I’m guessing it’s the 1930’s, before she married my grandfather.

I have always thought of my grandmother as having a strong spirit anyway, so I wanted to show that through bold color. Before moving to an oil painting, I tried a couple of loose color schemes on paper:

My preference was the one of the right; I changed the way she faced the viewer and made a few strong color choices. I painted it very loosely to give a sense of movement:

“A Change in Motion” 20 x 16 oil on panel

I had one other photo I wanted to try to paint from—I think she’s a young mother by this point. I’m sure the photographer (grandfather) intentionally wanted to emphasize her legs in this photo. Sometimes these photos are more about the photographer than the subject.

While I wouldn’t necessarily want to live in these time periods, I love imagining the time, my family history, and knowing it really wasn’t that long ago.