This painting was created for the annual Sauk County Art Association Show with the theme, “Every Picture Tells a Story”.
“I am one of seven children who are all included in this portrait, we are standing oldest to youngest, left to right. Behind my siblings and me is our childhood Sycamore home which is nestled in a western Pennsylvania valley and surrounded by woods, creeks, forested hills, and set on seventy acres.
Our land is adjacent to our paternal grandparents’ farm of four hundred acres. We had lots of room to roam!
Our father, Ernie, was a Navy veteran of World War II, he enlisted at age 18. He was a high school teacher, wrestling coach and farmer. We grew up on the farm with cattle, sheep, chickens, rabbits, horses, hay fields, sweet corn acres and a huge vegetable garden.
Our mother, Sarah was an Obstetric nurse, a seamstress extraordinaire, the peacemaker, an amazing force of nature with joi de vivre!
All four of our grandparents lived nearby, and many aunts, uncles and cousins visited frequently and invited us to different parts of the country to visit.
If we could only go back for a visit! I would so love to see my parents and grandparents alive again. I would like to thank them for our wonderful childhood. We knew where and who we came from and this instilled such pride, fortitude, strong values, and much love.”
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