In this painting I tried to piece together the essence of how I remember my grandparents Annie and Joe, using as reference a black and white photo that has been on my “family wall” forever. I found myself on a journey into their lives, re-collecting the sounds of their voices, their warmth, and even the smell of the dinners my grandmother would spend hours cooking. Creating a portrait can be fascinating whether from life or from a photograph. In this case I was lead into an unexpected deep dive into my own past.