I'm 47 years old, and I still have one of my grandmas today. She turned 100 this past November and can still crack a quick joke before I even know what's going on.
Growing up, we were at her house often; it was home away from home. One or a few of my 14 cousins may have been there to play in the flat backyard while the adults sat talking on the screened-in porch that housed the metal glider with plastic cushions, back and forth, back and forth. If you got the seat next to Grandma, she'd, without fail, scratch your back. Now, that's a little piece of heaven on earth!
If we stayed in, Grandma would get us a dish of ice cream and maybe start a game of Rummy 500. She could shuffle cards like a Vegas dealer, and if we won, it was probably because she planned it that way. We'd empty the candy dish on the kitchen shelf that offered a lifetime supply of Jolly Ranchers, and there was pop in the fridge.
I've been thinking about her a lot these past few days because, by medical standards, she is not in good health (though, if you were to ask her…she's fine).
The piece I'm working on is making sense in light of all of this.
Grannie Annie traveled with us sometimes. The six of us would drive in the car for hours at a time and place when the front seat was a bench and could fit three. Our vacations were not glamorous by today's standards, but there's nothing more magical than your parents feeling relaxed and having fun and your grandma checking to see if you need a piece of gum while this is occurring.
This color palette reminds me of summer and sand (at the lake, of course. We're from Pittsburgh.). I started to see paths forming like highways with overpasses, and billboards emerged. I placed a path of glitter circles for a bit of sparkle. They reminded me of the overwhelming joy and disbelief my brother and I felt when my dad handed us both an ENTIRE roll of quarters for the hotel arcade when a game was only one quarter.
This painting is a life map. There are layers of stories filled with ups, downs, twists, and turns. It's a story about not always having everything but with faith, love, a skillful sense of humor, and zest for life, always having enough.
