It's been about three months since I helped my father clean out mom's studio at the Brookletts Building in Easton. We ended up donating some supplies to the Academy Art Museum. Other items were given away to her artist friends in the building. A fledgling painter, I took her paints and brushes and some odds and ends – mom had a lot of useful items. Most importantly I moved her unframed artwork to my basement in Catonsville, MD where it sat untouched for awhile. Last month I guess I reached the right emotional place to start going through it all and so I began doing just that. I am about 40% done and have taken over 1000 photographs. It's been rewarding to see what she produced over the years and to study her technique. She had a very loose, free technique which is quite appealing. Not all of the work is gallery-worthy of course but there have been some lovely surprises. Like the painting below of my mom and her mom shelling peas in Finksburg, MD in the 1940s.
- Jack
