In Our Younger Years, Back to the Memories, Tethering Me
Between 2019 and 2020 I was going through a lot of changes in my life and this series offered me a tether to my childhood and home that gave me a sense of grounding throughout this confusing period of life.
I started this series by looking at old photos in family albums and picking out photos that grabbed my attention. Some that caught my eye were funny, or they were good quality up close portraits, which I always like painting. Some were odd or reminded me vividly of a memory. Later I expanded to paintng photos from my in laws family albums, and later my friends. I like painting my close circle. I like knowing who is behind the eyes of a portrait.
Milk was a painting I worked on in the summer of 2020. I was feeling overwhelmed and smothered and I was simultaneously painting a photo my step grandmother had taken of me as a child. In the photo I am on the verge of tears and my step grandma is blissfully so unaware she later prints her photo and caringly tapes it into a photo album. I think it is at once sad and hilarious that she was self absorbed and that my weeks at her house were so aggravating. Anyway, I found a connection through the painting of a sad memory from my past that could help me reflect on the sad feelings I was having today. Often I use humor to make light of things that upset me but in this painting I used cheerful colorful dots. I then washed over everthing with a transparent pink paint. Later I added white to 3/4 of the backgroud to allude the sensation of sinking.
