My paternal Grandmother, earned a living by painting. She painted mostly as a hobby and through an art group she belonged to, she’d sometimes have requests for paintings. She primarily painted what she wanted, things see saw on her travels with my Grandpa on the back of his motorcycle. She collected pictures and then painted from the photos she took, primarily landscapes with animals.

All of her images tell a story.

The photo of the girls was a compilation of three separate photos of the girls. She wanted to capture each of their personalities within the one photo. She collected a few of her favorite of each individual to inspire her to create what is seen in the final draft. The final painting was gifted to myself and my husband a year after the original photos were taken. This was a gift of love, as well as blood, sweat and tears!!!

The year the painting was gifted, my grandparents came to celebrate Christmas with us. They were both there when we opened the painting and got to see not only our reaction but the girls’ as well! It was such an amazing moment in time! We determined this painting was too special too only have ONE. We went in search of a printer who’d print on canvas so we could have copies made. This was a huge undertaking at the time. We were able to get five copies made. One for my grandparents, one for my parents and one for each of the girls…my husband and I would keep the original.

“My Macular Degeneration started to get the best of me. I was so blind towards the end, I could barely see Maddy to paint her”. - MaryAnne Petersen (My Grandma)

We didn’t know at the time that my grandmother was losing her vision. She was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration, which is a disease of the eye where the center of your vision is blurred. She used a magnifying glass to help her with the details of the photos. She said, “Macular Degeneration started to get the best of me. I was so blind towards the end, I could barely see Maddy to paint her.” Amazingly, Maddy is the one who looks most like the images of her as a child!

At a visit with the Great-Grandparents, it was decided to take a commemorative photo. My grandparents had the portrait hanging in their home and all three of the girls were there. It just seemed appropriate.