This is my Grandpa, Mel Preedy. I’ve wanted to paint him for two years. When I revisited this image, I considered it yet again. Then, when I projected it onto the canvas to see if it’d be good, I burst into tears and realized how cool this picture is.
Here is my Grandpa, holding his great grandson in a swirling swarm of clothes and hair, legs, and furniture. His eye is fixed. His mouth loves the special moment. It feels like he’s holding onto that moment… and that moment is quite symbolic right now for my Preedy family.
I got to remember my Grandpa’s eye color (not blue), how he looks like my Mom (his nose), his favorite color yellow (he always picked it in games), his funny personality (always changing his look and a little smelly), his runner/tree worker clothes, and all the fun camping trips, races, Christmas parties, and games we played. I signed it in his favorite color, “Hilma Maudi”, after his mom, Maude Preedy.
