First Best Friend

 I painted her portrait in her lifetime & her official response was the usual" does not look like!". This time, when I decided to paint her likeness based on a birthday party in her honor where she was enhanced with make up & upswept hairdo, I felt I got some techniques on hand. It felt like a reunion with her when I was doing the face, it was like putt

ing makeup on her physical face before any main event. I invested a lot of time fixing the hairdo from a helmet type to a more natural curl. I have been lucky to grow up in a household with parents who were also friends. She migrated to Chicago after she became a widow.  She embraced the change with enthusiasm & gratitude! As the daughter of a fisherman & the hometown midwife, she never dreamed that she could travel to our new homeland !She was able to continue her devotion with a daily mass at St.Greg. Shopping at Jewel  & cooking were  enjoyable tasks. She made friends with her senior group, & one time when she got lost at an Independence Day parade, I found her later, happily, at the police station!  My family love solving puzzles. She won some of our Scrabble games by reviewing the dictionary for high value words while her opponents were at the office! The list is endless! To you my beloved, I honor you with a portrait of my love!