Every family has an unofficial photographer.  That one person you can always count on to be there, camera in hand, to capture milestones, special gatherings and stolen moments.  My maternal grandmother played the role in my family.  She filled album after album of memories to leave behind and those photographs are among my most treasured possessions.  They are a visual storybook of our family history.  Greenville, South Carolina artists Signe and Genna Grushovenko find the precious memories of strangers and translate them into paint.

Though the source photographs themselves have been abandoned by their owners, whether by choice or loss, the artists capture the moments and further anonymize them, erasing faces of features and expressions.  Thus they become instantly relatable.  The faces could be you.. your brothers.. your mother.. your grandmother.

The husband and wife painting duo collaborate on each canvas, husband Genna supplies the underlying layers of color, pattern and texture onto which wife Signe applies the inspired composition of color blocked figures and settings.  The use of a vibrant, limited palette allows the eye to focus on form and depth– and there is plenty of it to be had!

We always tend to look back on “the good ol’ days” with fondness.  Whether or not the days were really good is debatable, I suppose.  But I think there is much we can learn by looking back on the imagery of our past.  How to be content.  Living with less but living more.  Enjoying simple moments with family and friends.

I hope your weekend was filled with simple, blissful living!  To see more of Signe & Genna Grushovenko’s work, please visit their website.  Oh and be sure to check out one of their gorgeous pieces hanging in the 2012 HGTV Green Home!  PS– My hubby is convinced that we’re going to win one of the dream homes. 😉

{Artist found via Dolan Geiman.}

Featured image is Sunspot Class Portrait, oil on linen, 48×60.  All images are via the artists’ website.