Cienfuegos, Cuba
Of all my work I may be the proudest of this portrait. A woman in her mid-nineties, Rennie was deaf but enjoyed the vibrations of music. While my tour group surveyed the art workshop operated by her grandchildren, I became bored and returned to the street turning back to see the grandmother emerging through the doorway. After I captured the moment I was coaxed into singing for her. Arm in arm we swayed on the sidewalk to L.O.V.E. as the cameras flashed around us. I completed the painting after she passed but was able to deliver a print of the work to her family. A few weeks later I was rewarded with a photo of her grandchildren displaying the print together in the same art workshop I visited in Cienfuegos. A Cuban moment that has so much meaning to me.

The Print: 10 x 15 image on an archival cotton rag.