This is a painting of my Great Grandmother Cecily, by her father, my Great Great Grandfather Stewart Robertson. It’s of Cecily as a young girl in a ballerina outfit. Due to the fact that Cecily was Stewart's daughter, she was an often present aspect of his work due to the fact that she seemed to have natural talent when it came to modelling for paintings. As you may have surmised, Stewart lived his life as an artist, but throughout his life, he did much more than just that. Firstly, he originally lived in Scotland, still working as an artist, until he was enlisted into the brutal ranks of WW1. Sadly, he suffered exposure to toxic gases, and due to the wet, cold climate in Scotland, he needed somewhere else to live, so he settled in sunny California. After moving to California, he had quite a few odd jobs, one of the most mentioned being the fact that he painted the faces of the munchkins in the wizard of Oz. Despite these odd jobs however, he continued his passion as an artist as his primary career. You may be wondering why I brought up all of this information that at first glance, seems to simply be extraneous rather than actually describing the subject at hand, the painting. Well, for me, this is describing the painting. When I see this painting, when I look at it, I think of the story of Stewart, the story of Cecily, the story of my family, tradition, and history. Because for me, this painting isn’t just a painting, but a story personified into oil on canvas.

– Quinn S

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