Little Frances

40″ x 32″
Oil on canvas

This is a painting of my Mother Frances Barnard. She was born December 9, 1920 in Kansas City, Missouri. She died in Lee’s Summit, Missouri on March 12, 2004. She was a city girl through and through. My mother was typical for Her time. She was a devoted homemaker, wife, and stay-at-home mom. She did not remember the photo being taken. It was hard to judge Her age but since the photo was taken in the summer, in the back yard of the house I grew up in, I would say she was somewhere around 3 1/2 years of age. The photo background was harsh and boring. I chose to put Her in a garden from my imagination. I left Her standing on the chair from the photo but the rest is made up. Parenting was done quite differently in the 1920’s and 1930’s, middle-class families were not choosy about what colors their children wore. As the third daughter my mother was probably wearing a hand-me-down. The photo was taken in sepia. I decided on a faded blue romper. There needed to be contrast between Her and the flowers in the background. My mother’s hair was dark but I chose to give it lighter highlights. Children are a challenge to paint so that is exactly why I love the paint them. It will be fun to write more about my mother in the future.