Personal Narrative: My Grandma Pila

Growing up in El Centro, born on December 10, 1960, my mother was the second eldest out of five children. She was born into a loving Latino family, with my grandmother, her mom, being a single mother. I chose to do a collage incorporating her favorite elements, such as her favorite colors and photographs of people who are dear and close to her heart. My moms biggest influence was her grandmother, Grandma Pila. Grandma Pila, as well as my grandmother, was also a single mother for most of her life. My mom admired her for her strength and learned to always believe in yourself and never to rely on a man. My mom’s fondest memory as a child was when she lived next to her grandmother and use to spend a lot of time cooking with her and learning all the special qualities of our culture. My mom’s proudest moment was moving out of her mother’s house and never having to ask for help, she has felt very independent and is thankful for everything her mom has done for her growing up. I chose to draw an elephant to represent her mom, because my grandmother collects anything and everything to do with elephants. Moving onto her own family, my mother met my father in 1986 while moving into an apartment complex. My father as a true gentleman, helped her move into her new place. From there they …show more content…
I think so, I mean certain aspects I could see myself improving such as more family members being added to the photos, but honestly I have such a big family and it would be difficult to put everyone in one picture. I think what works best in my artwork is the softness of my sketches and the bold photos being displayed, it gives it a nice contrast. I used watercolor to fill in some of the henna sketches, I also tried to incorporate some gouache paint as well. I do wish the photo with my cousins had a different back drop, not black so it didn’t stand out so much. If I could do it all again, I would probably do a watercolor painting and not a