Heirloom Painting #2

I just love to paint.
But now and then I'm convinced, like Luke Skywalker, to use "the force" for good. So I've made a few special, wedding paintings for nieces. This one, is full of family history.

The couple in the photo is my parents (my niece's grandparents) looking cute and dapper - Mom in her 40s full skirt and Dad in his Airforce uniform. They were married during his airforce training at the start of WWII. Mom and her mother took a bus from NYC to Greenville, GA. This was 1943 - way before AC in vehicles - what a trip that must have been! Once they got there my parents had 36 hours to get married and "honeymoon" before Dad's leave was up. Not to mention, they had to wait all afternoon to get hitched because the local priest was napping! (how does this compare to today's wedding planning - I'm just sayin')

Anyway... the brass frame in this painting was made by my father's grandfather, or my niece's great-great grandfather! The vase is one of my mother's prized Lenox pieces. And the medal? Well that's my Dad's Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for dangerous missions as a fighter pilot in the Pacific. Lots of pride there.

With our large family, there really aren't so many family momentos to share with the next generation  so maybe these paintings will help sustain the memories.

...and I should be in the studio because there is another wedding this spring!

Of course, in the true spirit of the "shoemaker" my own children do not (yet?) have a nostalgic, family heirloom painting. (I think they know I love them anyway.)