This is a painting that you'd see if you were standing on the staircase to the second floor. It is positioned so that you can't help but see it. You stand there and see just this view. If you keep going, then you'll arrive at the second floor landing.
"Who painted it?"
My paternal grandmother Louis painted it.
She wasn't an especially great artist.
I think she got in to painting as a sort of later-in-life whim.
It is nice to have something from her.
I like art that has a bit of a backstory to it.
Also, I like folk or naïve art.
"Do you wish that you knew the artist better?"
Yeah -- My father was adopted and his family lived on the West Coast.
My family lived in South Western Ontario, and we never made the trip out West.
I really wish that I new my grandmother better.
She was the only one of my grandparents that was alive for most of my youth.
She would send me birthdays cards every year, but I never really communicated with her.
I remember one time, when I was probably eight or nine, that I called her.
"Hey -- Is Lou there?"
"Oh sorry, you must have the wrong number."
I told my mom what happened and she said that I was too casual.
I called back, introduced myself formally, asked for Grandma Louis, and had a nice conversation.