"Christy Girl"

     My mother took care of an elderly neighbor for many years.  We called her Aunt Claire, but we were not related.  She was pretty much a hermit; my mother was the only one allowed inside her tiny house until she died.  She left her house to my mother and I was able to look through her meager possessions before my mother decided to call in an auction company to empty the house. I literally had to wear a surgical mask to wade through the years of dirt, grease and detritus a nearly 100 year old woman who lived alone would accumulate.

     Claire’s husband, Al, who died in the 1950’s, had left me his old shotgun back then and I thought there might be some other artifacts around.  There were a few rusty lures and corroded shotgun shells, but not much else.  I did find some good stuff in an old trunk, including a 1923 Yankees World Series ticket, some New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers tickets and score cards, lots of horse racing items and tickets to ball games. (I remember thinking that Al must have been a worse packrat than I am.)

      I also found the 1936 Army-Navy program, along with the two tickets and the Navy pin in the painting.  I also found on a very top shelf in the kitchen under about a half an inch of grease and dirt, a nearly complete set of ‘Flow Blue’ china from 1895.  It must have belonged to Aunt Claire’s mother at one time. It was so covered with grease that I came close to throwing it away; it took forever to clean it. I did get some good subject matter for a couple of other paintings, one of which, “Flow Blue” appears here in the ‘Gallery.’

     Back to the Army-Navy program, I knew it would be great subject matter for a still life, but I needed a good backdrop, so I borrowed an oak cabinet door from our laundry room, moved it into my studio and went to work. The “Christy Girl” was a challenge, but I think it worked out okay.  

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