Center of Attention

27"x 23"
Oil on Canvas

In almost all of the photos I have of my grandmother in college she is right in the middle of the shot. She is surrounded by friends and appears to be right in the center of things. I want to ask her about this night, goofing around with her friends in her dorm room, bed groaning under the weight of all of them piled on top.

I decided to highlight her in the painting so that you see this picture the same way I do. When I see the photograph, I zero in on her, noticing her face, what she is wearing, what she is doing. I notice the other girls and I am curious about them, but she is the one I really care about, as I look for the woman I knew in the young girl pictured. By only adding color and facial features to her, she becomes the first thing you notice as well.


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