portraiture, old age and public art

I'm just thinking about how the new mural features this portrait of an elderly woman from the University Heights neighborhood. When I first started painting, I did several portraits of older people. I've always loved Tiepollo's etchings of old men and Rembrandt's astonishing portraits of the elderly. But the galleries I worked with could never do anything with this work of mine. Public art, when you have a chance to do it, seems like a good place to include the spectrum of human experience.

the mural in process

So often I find myself in love with the simple shapes that begin to suggest figuration, but leave so much to the eye. I wonder if there could be a mural that uses imagery that only goes this far?

if it weren't for yogurt containers there would be no murals...