My Mother - The New Grandma Moses

 

I've been trying for 12 years to get my mother to pick up a paintbrush and paint with me.  I don't know what finally clicked with her, but she said "yes" and I enthusiastically set her up with her own little tabletop easel, a canvas, and some paints, brushes, and all the necessities for creating her first painting.

 

I had her look through some reference images I had in a drawer and she found one of a Gazebo that she liked.  She decided to call her painting "Gazebo in the Park."  

 

She sat for about 2 hours painting away, listening to music from her era of the 30s and 40s that I have on my iPod, and I made sure nobody distracted her.

 

Check out this wrist action while she mixes her paints. 

 

And how she sits back to look over her work - just like a real artist!  I'm so proud of her.

 

She may be 85, but I think she has just discovered a new career.  She was completely in her zone.  I don't think she even noticed that I was taking her picture.
  
  

She has not finished her painting yet, but when she does, I'll be sure to post it here.  For her first painting, I am really proud of her.  She drew the scene on the canvas with pencil and I showed her how to mix colors.  It isn't Monet by any stretch, but it is my mother's first painting.  And that, my friends, is worth a million to me.