Jonathan Lunsford, artist
Grandma’s Journey, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
L2020.011

I painted this for my Grandma [Mildred Lunsford] out of respect for her as my grandma and as my friend. She is always there for me and would never turn her back on me.  It is really about the fear and concern I had for her possibly getting sick. This Corona is pretty bad, and I was always concerned that I might bring it to her.

So, when I first started this painting, it started with this nastiness – the black area in the lower part of the painting.  This was the Corona … when everyone was talking about how scared they were and everybody dying.

And obviously, my grandmother is right in the middle of it. So, I placed her in the center of the painting coming out into a cross-like composition.  I wanted to show her strength and her ability to always be so happy through all of this madness.

On the upper left hand side of the painting are my two kids – as bear cubs. And the standing bear is supposed to be me, very angry when she goes, just yelling and screaming, like the bear.

The staircase is her way to go to heaven when she leaves. It has the queen piece to the chess game at the base of the stairs because she is a queen to me.

Seemed like they were always talking about how deadly it is, I thought for sure she would get it. But she hasn’t. She is still here as ornery as ever and still kicking strong.