Grandmom's Dishes #1

Watercolor 22" x 30"

This is the first of the series. I have been quite interested in looking at the familiar influences in my work. Asking critical questions about who I am and from what place do these visual transformations  come? Many thoughts have centered on my grandmother who died in 1993. All I received of hers was her best china and a table cloth she hand embroidered. I treasure these with all of my heart. I often simply take them out of the protective hutch in which they rest to look at them. One afternoon, I took them out, laid them on the dining room table while the late afternoon sun was shining through the window and photographed them. The following paintings are resulting from those reference photos.  In many ways I feel my grandmother's presence. Getting to the essence of what this means is what the paintings are all about. Meaning, therefore, does not have to be literal. The paintings transform themselves to be quite abstract as I continue toward the path of understanding the essence of influence and the core of who I am.