Klik hier voor een uitgebreid "ontstaan strip" van het portret in het Nederlands.

Portrait of My Grandmother

When I was 21, I bought a single-lens reflex Asahi Pentax camera (cost me almost a month's salary) and became quite proficient in developing and printing large photos in my darkroom in the attic of my mother's home.

I joined a photography group and soon had a portrait of my maternal grandmother (see pic on the right) featured in our newspaper. Read the article and view the photograph in the paper here.
My "Oma" was quite proud of her being shown in the newspaper, but passed away one year later, at the age of 84.

It was a large print (20" x 16") and I had glued it onto chipboard. It survived a dozen moves over 51 years. It now has some wear and tear, but today she still smiles at me.

I always loved my first big B&W photo portrait and decided to paint it, but now in color, as I remember her. The face is exactly the same size as in the B&W photograph.

I had the painting framed in a 3" wide silver-color wooden frame with an oval mat to give it an oldfashioned feel.

I'm very happy with it.

It won 3rd price in the 2020 Mattie Kelly National Fine Arts exhibition.