Portraits
Portrait of a Father and Daughter's hands
Sylvia leGrand
1972-1991
The Dahlia Fairy
I followed these two rascals around for an hour with my camera and this is the only shot that worked. So that's the one I painted for their mom as a gift for their dad.
My Friese grandfather
My Russian grandfather
"Silent Night, Holy Night"
I painted this portrait from a very old, yellowed newspaper clipping (left). The boy, now a man, happened by the violin player in the street and joined him in Christmas carols. A newspaper photographer was also there and caught the moment.
This was a combination of two old photos of a couple who later married, but didn't actually know each other as children.
My parents.
This is part of a much larger trompe l'oeil mural I painted for mom and dad on their family room wall (see my Trompe l'oeil gallery).
This is one of nine very similar paintings I made for the siblings in a large family I know. The man in the painting had just picked up his fiancée from the Vancouver train station after a year and an ocean apart. He described it as "the happiest day of my life". You can tell.
I also painted some in colour from the black and white photo. "I was wearing a blue suit, and she had on a green coat", he said. I did some research to find out what colour the cars might be.
These three brothers were just starting a new business venture. The painting was commissioned by one of the wives as a gift for the future board room.
The Winter Fairy
The Tynehead Fairy
