Pairs with:

The first painting was completed in 2009 as part of a series dealing with the death of my mother in 2007. The second is a reworking of the same image and idea. On my mother’s birthday, my father planted a remembrance tree in a ceremony at the special education school that my mom worked at. The weather was windy, snowing, sleeting, and cold. My father seemed to be alone on an island, an image that stuck with me. Alone with the shovel in the frigid weather, yet there were many people in attendance. So I had to paint it in my grief.

In 2024 I wanted to reinterpret the image after many years of painting and life experience. My friend Jon is the model in both paintings.