I was inspired to paint a picture of my grandfather using a old nostalgic photo as a refence , and a classical, almost Paris background . I thought that it would add to the surreal effect of a surreal character. My mom never talked much about her Portuguese dad. it seemed like he wasn't much of a father at all. He had, from what I could gather my grandmother as a concubine type relationship, him being somewhat of a aristocrat, coming and going as he pleased , and leaving the burden of child rearing and development up to my poor grandmother. My mom always remained faithful to her poor black heritage , these were some of the values and fears we adopted in our life , from her side.
