Changing

When photos of my mother’s childhood came to me over a decade ago, I started drawing and painting from them. The mystery of her past wove into my baby steps, learning about paint:

One picture in particular caught me: my mother as a girl, with her little sister beside her. Gloria died after childbirth when I was 3. In this image, all that’s before them. The photo felt parallel to my own childhood, now past, as well as to my daughter’s, a girl at the time.

I drew and painted it, over and over:

I did the same with an image of my sister and me, dressed in our Easter finest:

Last month, cleaning my studio, I found old attempts that no longer worked for me. Some I put out of their misery. Two, though, asked for one more chance. (If you don’t like something, you have nothing to lose by trying.) To my surprise, the “destructo move” of white was just what they needed. That layer of color lies like mist between us and the images. What I wanted say all along: memory and distance, overlapping like waves in our mind.

These are called The Weight of Air and Offering. Find them at the Gallery Twist April 21-May 21, 2023.