For this entry I wanted to showcase one of my favorite paintings, Lucille.
Lucille Oil and mixed media on paper
This was one of the first pieces I completed after we moved in our new home. The house was previously owned by my grandparents. With the signing of the paperwork came rooms full of my grandmother's items, ephemeral things that reminded me of her, and smells that brought back memories I had long forgotten. My grandmother's name was Lucille. Lucille, the painting, is an attempt to document the emotion that comes with 'the things' that remind us of a loved one.
For example, in the lower left of the painting you can see the outline of plant stakes. We found these all over our the yard and even buried in the soil. These are the little plastic cards that come with 4-packs of annuals and are the remnants of the gardens my grandmother grew. One of the more noticeable elements in this painting is the bird mid-composition. Thought by some to be a crow, it is actually a vulture. The image is from an old alphabet set that was always a fixture on the porch. Vulture of course is for "V."
Lucille Grill
This painting is about the things that remind me of my Grandma, but also the experience of living the house that she did. We both looked at the same patch of land from our kitchen window. I often try to image how the landscape has changed. Not everything has changed; we both have had to deal with Box Elder Bugs. One of them even made them in the painting. Look slightly down and to the left of the Vulture.
Living in her house has made me feel closer to her than I had in a long time. It is truly an honor to inherit her world.