“Stood Up”

The artist’s daughter was dressed to the nines awaiting her date to arrive for the big High School Homecoming Dance. But almost two hours had gone by and he was still a no-show. Since dad had film in his camera, he took a few stills of her in the garage sitting on an old wingback chair that was in need of upholstery. He draped a old drop over it and quickly set a light source. He got behind his camera and she posed with a happy smile, then stopped. A moment passed. The artist couldn’t quite remember exactly what transpired, but these photos were not your conventional happy and smiling “Homecoming Dance photos” – they seemed to aptly capture this unfortunate slice-of-life moment. Shortly afterwards, this painting came into existence. Life can be heartbreaking. Paintings are meant to tell stories – and sometimes, even if those stories are sad ones.

As it turns out, she wasn’t stood up, but the night started out this way, despite her looking so beautiful.