Kate Groenevelt
Kate Groenevelt 1996 oil on linen 30x36" collection of Claudia Groenevelt
I never liked working from photographs (color from life always looks better), but occasionally people wanted a family member memorialized, and I would agree. A month before we left for Zoe’s fellowship in Philadelphia, I got a commission to do this lovely, impetuous youngster, Kate (who is now a 25-year-old grad student!). Fortunately, her mother Claudia also hired a very good local photographer, Gary Geer, to do photographs. Working from these photographs, I did the portrait in Philadelphia and drove it back to Rochester.
It's always a fearful thing, revealing a portrait to someone who hasn't seen what you've done but who has put up some good money to have you do it. I think Claudia and I were both anxious going into our meeting... I was worrying, "What if she doesn't like it?" I'd worked so hard on it... and she's a beautiful girl, and I did a beautiful portrait of her... She was no doubt wondering "What's it look like? What if I don't like it?" But when we met and I showed it to her, her smile and misty eyes helped me realize that she liked it, and it was good, and things were going to be all right.
When I picked up Kate’s portrait last December, Claudia mentioned to me how the idea of having me do a portrait came about. She said she went to dinner at the High Street Grille where a number of my paintings were on display. There she saw my portrait of Zoe (which is in this show, number 39) right before her as she entered, and it stopped her in her tracks. She said it was all she could think about during dinner and soon after made a call to me to discuss how this could be accomplished as a gift to Kate’s father for Father’s Day. She was concerned that Kate would give away the secret. She didn't.
She also told me how cherished the portrait had become to her when in 2006 she and Kate had a fire in their home. She said that Kate got the dogs out of the house, and Claudia followed right behind her with the portrait - her most precious belongings were safe!
