Giuliana and the Sunflowers

In this ominous painting, a woman and young girl walk through a stand of wilting sunflowers. Hand in hand, mother and daughter appear to have different reactions to the landscape. The mother, based on local resident Laurie Haskell-Degrazia, glances cautiously around the scene as the heads of the sunflowers seem to bow to the duo. Holding tight to her mother’s hand, Giuliana steps out ahead and pulls her mother along. The intensely glowing and striated clouds, a feature of several of Jamie Wyeth’s landscapes, add to the air of mystery in this painting.