This painting was inspired by a 1949 black and white family photo, and an opportunity to be part of a gallery show titled "Childhood Memories". I really enjoyed working on this painting.
Whenever I see pictures like this I'm reminded of how far back in time my childhood was.
When I was growing up, the world of the Depression and WWII seemed so present to our parents' generation, that I had the distinct feeling that I had lived during that time--before my birth. I was born in 1947, right at the start of the Baby Boom. Our parents had lived through WWI, the Twenties, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, WWII, and then the McCarthy Era. They were shell-shocked by dislocation and social distress. Our generation started out in the tranquil Fifties, and then broke out during the Sixties, becoming the activist-love-flower power kids. We wanted to change the world. But the world changed us.
Now that America is fast becoming a second-rate power, people are thinking smaller. Getting by and living on hope and dreams are again becoming the fate of ordinary Americans.
But you can see hope in pictures like this, right at the beginning of our period of post-War prosperity. They saw us growing up into a better world. And for a while, it was. Sadly, that's no longer the case.
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Whenever I see pictures like this I'm reminded of how far back in time my childhood was.
When I was growing up, the world of the Depression and WWII seemed so present to our parents' generation, that I had the distinct feeling that I had lived during that time--before my birth. I was born in 1947, right at the start of the Baby Boom. Our parents had lived through WWI, the Twenties, the Depression, the Dust Bowl, WWII, and then the McCarthy Era. They were shell-shocked by dislocation and social distress. Our generation started out in the tranquil Fifties, and then broke out during the Sixties, becoming the activist-love-flower power kids. We wanted to change the world. But the world changed us.
Now that America is fast becoming a second-rate power, people are thinking smaller. Getting by and living on hope and dreams are again becoming the fate of ordinary Americans.
But you can see hope in pictures like this, right at the beginning of our period of post-War prosperity. They saw us growing up into a better world. And for a while, it was. Sadly, that's no longer the case.
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