Sandra Jeanne Dutton

The Castro Valley Kids, 1949

Acrylic on Canvas

36 x 36 inches

I wanted to pay homage to the time period (I worked from several sepia photographs)  and, wanting to avoid simply "colorizing", decided to use only "sepia" tones (except for the sky, which I pictured as a bold cerulean California blue).  I was fascinated by the colors that were arrayed on a sepia color chart and was happy I had so many variations to work with.  As I painted, I imagined everyone as they were back then, the two older boys, Don and Wayne, often with their bebe guns, and Stevie on the tricycle, who once rode through some chicken manure in our yard and was later hosed off by my mother, then Larry and I, best friends and reading buddies (note the book in my hand) and I wondered what each was now doing, if indeed they were still alive.