This Christmas, to commemorate the passing of my wonderful Grandma Gertrude 10 years ago, I did a couple portraits of her to give to family members.

I had wonderful source material - my mother had taken a series of beautiful black/white photo of Grandma years ago, so that was my starting point.

Making the paintings was a wonderful experience for me - it actually felt that I was both honoring her memory and communicating directly with her over the last couple days as I perfected her soft cheeks, her direct gaze and her arthritic hands.

My grandmother was a dear woman, greatly missed by all who knew her. Love you Grandma!

Grandma Gertrude with patterns - portraits from photography