The Gardener 16 x 12 pastel on board

I'm posting this image of my stepfather, Everett Eldridge. I painted the picture yesterday and learned in the evening that he died during the day. We were expecting him to go, but it was meaningful to me to be painting him for the first time on the day that he died. The picture is of him in his beloved garden, after getting out of the hospital and nursing home in 2006. Before retiring, he was a boat builder. He was a life-time resident of Mattapoisett--a true Yankee! He and my mother were married in 1975 after both had lost their spouses several years prior. It was a wonderful marriage and we will all miss him.