This painting came from a drawing assignment I did in high school almost 20 years ago. The teacher gave each one of us a picture of a person to draw. I got this old man. I drew his portrait in pencil and won an amature art competition with it. I later gave the pencil drawing to my grandmother who returned it a few years later wanting to make sure I got it back in case she passed on. I kept it in the frame she gave me when she returned it. It hung on my wall at home and later at work for many years until it yellowed with age and general abuse.

I toyed with the idea of reworking the portrait for several years, but, quite honestly, I wasn't sure I could do it. Then, finally, after returning to art and drawing many other portraits, I thought I'd tackle this old man again. So, over the Christmas holidays of 2004, I set about transfering him to watercolor. It was hard, sometimes tedious work, and there were many times I felt certain that I would ruin the whole thing. I think I avoided doing that.

Many of my friends have commented that he looks menacing or haunting. I've never really thought of him that way, although, I must admit that I have felt admonished by him more than a time or two.

After hanging on display at the Zullo Gallery in Medfield, MA., as part of the gallery's 12th annual juried show for a couple of months, it is now back on display at the Orpheum Theater in Foxboro, MA.