Monumental Portrait - Grandma Judy's Back

Sometimes to see something clearly, you have to look away.

This is Grandma Judy from behind. Most portraits show a face, but I wanted to show another side of Judy to finish my earlier portrait of her.

Judy, having made it through the pandemic, is now recuperating from a broken hip. She's doing PT, getting stronger, and getting ready to go back out in the world.

I look at this as an abstract painting.

One of the things I play with in my work is balancing the real and the paint. I'm particularly happy with how Judy's shirt starts as a shirt at the top and devolves into brushstroke play in the back. I'm sure if I were an art historian, I could find some meaning in that.

Grandma Judy's back.

As Judy builds up her strength, she's been going on short walks through the neighborhood. Her goal is to get to the local library on her own; it's a few blocks away.

The actual prints are gorgeous.

The purple of the shirt is exactly how I painted it. The skin has multiple layers of paint. I use a top-of-the-line Epson printer with pigment ink that is tested to last 200 years. I print on Hahnemühle German Etching all-cotton archival 310 g/mA Paper. 

Each print is signed and numbered on the back. I think it and the face forward portrait make a nice set.