The Reunion

20 x 30, Oil on Panel

This painting honors my pioneer ancestor, Sarah Peters Squires, who left Wales for Utah with the early Saints. While pregnant with her seventh child, her husband died shortly after returning from a mission. She raised her family alone on a small farm, known for her integrity, faith, and compassion — and, later in life, she lost her sight. Her granddaughter wrote about visiting as a small child, and how grandma was scooped up by her father and the two of them danced around the room, laughing and crying. Sarah once wrote to her daughter: "We all have our troubles and heartaches... but when our troubles are shared with our families, we are more able to bear them." My uncle and my grandmother, not long before she passed, modeled for this painting. It wasn't working at first, until I remembered Sarah was blind, and covered the whole canvas in black before lifting the light back out. That process changed the painting for me. It became less about depicting a moment, and more about discovering one through darkness, about how light can become more visible, and more precious, when we know what it is to live without it.