Stephen J. Grande watched from his comfortable studio, equipped with brushes and easels and the unmistakable smell of oils. He stayed for a while with his stare on ‘Vermont Winter,’ a painting that he commercially treasured.
When he looked at the canvas, he saw images of his past summers in Vermont come to mind. Stephen recalled the frozen winters of hill sliding during the dawn with the sound of laughter ringing through the freezing cold. There, however, was one thing that was etched more prominently than the others in her memory.
Once, Stephen’s grandfather said to him, “Come on, we’re going for a walk in the woods.” And it was a cold December day when he uttered those words. The snow packed the ground and thus they heard the sound of their boots when they were walking on the snow, while the trees in the forest remained thick and tall and had white snow on them.
One day they found a blank spot, and in the center of it there was a log house five by seven standing in the midst of pines, with the smoke rising from the chimney. Stephen’s grandfather took him by the shoulder and guided him to a log, which had fallen on the ground, and then with his right hand pointed to the sky where the setting sun was and the snow white landscape that was brightly illuminated.
To be honest, there were times when Stevie tried to decipher why it was his life changing moments that his grandfather kept repeating to him, and it was moments like these that echoed his grandfather’s words forever.
And it was that moment that Stephen depicted in ‘Vermont Winter’. The painting was dedicated to his grandfather – as much as all the paintings he created were dedicated to him – and was a reflection of the meaning of life that his grandfather taught him. It was a piece that touched on issues of family, lineage, and the essence of life stripped to the bare essentials.
Suddenly, Stephen wiped off his sweat and had the last stroke; touching his face, the tear fell. “I should have known it was you all along,” he whispered in closing, realizing that through each of the paintings, including “Vermont Winter,” his dear grandfather’s spirit would always remain alive.
