Grandma's Trees

Here's the newest painting. I started it on the 1 year anniversary of my grandmother's death. The trees are taken from a picture I took standing on her screened in porch. The colors aren't really my style, but were dictated by the impression she left on my life. I won't go into too much detail about the meaning behind it all, but here's a couple of major things...

The colors are bold and strong like she was. She had an amazing personality and presence. I knew when I went into this painting that it had to be large and bold.

The trees are black to resemble stained glass lead. She was Catholic and she loved the stained glass windows of the cathedrals. It also conjures up memories of going to church with her on occasion when we would stay with her as kids.

The entire time I was working on this piece memories were just flooding my brain, and I could find some correlation to the painting - without really trying. It was almost as if she were standing over my shoulder directing me - and believe me, that's a very strong possibility. In fact, I thought I was finished with it earlier today, but then realized that the purple blended in with the black too much.

My first instinct was to set it aside and deal with it later. I was ready to start working on the next one. Then I could hear her tell me to finish it...she wasn't a big fan of leaving things unfinished. So, since I was out of purple I mixed my own until it was just right and sat here and repainted it. I'm glad I did.

I feel like everything I've been holding in for the past year I was able to release into this painting. I also feel her presence very strongly in it. Unfortunately I now have a 4'x3' painting that I don't know what to do with...it doesn't really go with our decor. Oh, and the next painting won't be nearly as large.