From time to time I like to use family photos as sources for paintings. I don't come from a large family, but I do have an enormous collection of old photos –– quite a few which date back to Civil War era. A number of members of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) lived into their 90s, so many were alive when I was a child. Since I knew many people in these photographs, it has always been enjoyable to use them as subjects to pain. The following small watercolor sketches gave me a chance to try different styles and color palettes. One of the sketches, completed in 2024 –– "Mom, with Betty and Skip, Winter 1942" –– received an Honorable Mention in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society's Juried Online Show, Inside, Outside. The image source was a small, out-of-focus snapshot taken by my grandfather after a big snowstorm. It shows my mother and my uncle, with my grandmother in the background. They're standing in the driveway of their home in B...
