Apples circa mid 70's

 I think because my mom was in the kitchen all the time she tended to paint what was near at hand. So she would work on still-lifes of fruit and flowers through the years both in oil and then starting in 1977 watercolor. Below is another fruit in oil, I guess you can say from her later oil painting period. Her later oils she got looser, with heavy handling of oil. painting with palette knife and such. She was always experimenting. These apples are unfortunately not signed and not dated.

apples 

detail

April 24, 2020

On April 24, Barbara Mary Sisko Capobianco, artist, nurse, mom and grandmother, died. A victim of both Alzheimer's and ultimately Covid-19. She was 78. Mom, was a great and wonderful person. A nurse, she would go out of her way to help people. People she didn’t even know that well. She certainly would have been on the frontline today during the pandemic, even at 78.  Everyone who knew her considered her one of those rare people around us -  An angel on Earth. She was also an artist as this blog attests to who dreamed of retiring and dedicating herself to painting. Sadly it was all robbed from her by Alzheimer’s. And now at least she is free of that.  She is a fixed star that I and my siblings guide our lives by and we’ve all missed her for some time now. To honor her, I could post so many different paintings that mom did, many of them quiet and beautiful, much like her. I've settled on this one that hangs in my office, above the door. I pass beneath it as I come an go. A watercolor, her media of choice from 1977 onward,  it speaks to me as an image of freedom, soaring into that gigantic sky. However, that tiny house, it seems so alone but resilient, lost and forgotten but sweet and kind, a refuge, safe, a symbol of home. All elements I would apply to my Mom. There was a day in the late 70's, maybe 80, that this image spoke to her enough that she would paint it. And now she speaks to me through it.  - love you mom. Jimmy.

the painting 

( click on to view larger )

detail 

detail 

 love how she handled the grass in this one

detail 

when mom got loose you could can tell she was enjoying painting.

detail 

Her signature is her full Barbara Sisko Capobianco

Red Barn ( possibly unfinished )

Mom painted a lot of barns. She took a lot of photos of old barns. She really liked old barns. This painting is probably the first barn she painted. It rests squarely in the early to mid 70's period and has a certain simplicity to it unlike her more accomplished water color barns. Perhaps it is too symmetrical  in it's composition but it does have a kind of children's book quality to it.  This too was a painting I remember from my childhood. The painting is unsigned maybe because she wasn't entirely happy with it or it wasn't finished, not sure, but it should be noted mom did sign most of her work it seems unless it was unfinished.

the Red Barn oil 1970's

detail of the grass shows Mom getting more brave with her technique.

detail: here as well - her handling of the foliage is much more effortless then the barn or the fence.

detail of tress : don't seem to fit with the rest of the foliage in painting but have a certain charm all to themselves. 

The Old Mill

It being Mom's birthday today, thought I should post something to her art blog. Shame I haven't posted anything in awhile and now Uncle Bruce has passed on in 2016, so on more person with a memory of mom is gone.

In honor of Uncle Bruce, who loved history, let's post "The Old Mill".  One of Mom's earlier landscape   oils depicting the Old Mill in Saddle Brook, NJ. I believe this mill has been around since the 1700's and supposedly Washington marched his troops by it as they escaped from the battle of Fort Lee on his way to the Delaware River and eventually the battle of Trenton. This painting always seemed to move around our house and I can't remember a time it didn't occupy some wall. I have very fond memories of it and always liked it.

The Old Mill  oil  1970's

The Old Mill detail. It is crude for sure, naive, she is still developing herself as an artist. Mom always worked on her skills and never gave up. Maybe that's why I like this painting. 

detail of the two foot bridges - I like the graphic simplicity 

of these 

detail - Mom always excelled with nature and the foreground 

foliage is definitely the strongest aspect of the painting 

detail - 

still signing Capobianco - placing this painting in the 1970's