Goodbye Grandma

"Three Generations"

14 x 14 Oil on Gessoed Paper

This was a bit of departure for me, but the items in the picture mean a lot to me.... This nesting doll set was my Grandmother's. She gave it to me when I was alittle girl, and miraculously, I actually kept it intact! I always loved this little set. I think she got it from Austria, where most of her cousins still lived...She would go for vacation to visit her large extended family....The doily was made by my great-aunt...My grandmother;s sister....

My Grandmother passed away on March 30 of this year....But when she died I remembered all the little things that made up grandma...Visiting her in NYC, the smell of gas in the hallway of the apartment building when we walked in, a new stuffed bunny every easter, the most GORGEOUS colored easter eggs (still don't know how she GOT those colors), how she and my aunt would hang out the apartment window waving in anticipation as my dad circled the NYC block several times for a spot, her curlers when she came to visit us, triscuts, the rose wallpaper that had been in the apartment for 60 years and was lined with cracks but had the most beautiful cottage roses all over and I just thought it was divine....Helping with thanksgiving dinner, getting to sleep with her at the end of the day when she had been monopolized by everyone all day, her baked spaghetti which we always begged for (butter, american cheese, and ketchup...My husband thinks I am weird)...Our stocking hanging from the antique radio with the little bits of glitter that eventually began to peel off, her cat eye glasses (I wonder where those went), How she would always tell me to "be a good girl" and "wink, wink she was ALWAYS a good girl"...

Here is the last picture we took with her in February, with my Mom and my two little girls.....She was so happy to see the girls...