May’s Dress

My husband’s mom’s name was May; Mary Gladys Cunningham. I got to know May toward the end of her life. She had Parkinson’s as well as the dementia that develops along with this disease. May lived with Glenn for about six years before she died and it was towards the end of this time that I met them both. May died in 2004 and Glenn and I were married a few years later.

Mary (May) Gladys Cunningham 1916-2004

The dress that is the focal point of this painting in progress is May’s wedding dress. Glenn had carefully tucked it away in the back of his closet and it surfaced as we packed during our move to Nova Scotia. That was a decade ago. One day, Glenn took it outside and hung it in a tree to air it out. We were mesmerized as we stood before this gown, backlit by the late afternoon sun. A light breeze occasionally puffed out the dress and lifted a sleeve. May’s presence was palpable; she was there with us, still animated in her wedding gown and speaking to us across time.

I knew immediately that I would make a painting about this moment. I sketched out the dress on a large canvas and began painting in the rich background of trees lit by the lowering sun.

And here the canvas is, quite a few years later, still in the process of taking form in my studio.

It’s taken quite a while to commit to completing this painting. I have abandoned it several times to focus on other bodies of work and paintings, including “Lost in the woods” which definitely relates to May’s dress.

As I worked on this painting I was thinking about memory, memories and their loss and the process of dementia which overtook May as she moved along that path through the woods, at the end of her life.

So now, here I am with May’s Dress in progress, still waiting in my studio for completion. It will be my winter project so stay tuned. I will post here again with images of the finished work