About Salvatore Joseph Grillo

No matter how long the lifetime, it's never a  long enough time to share life with the people we love. For the second time in less than three months, I've lost a family member. My loving, sweet, funny and smart Dad, passed away last Saturday two weeks short of his 95th birthday. He was so kind and took so much enjoyment in the people in his life that he was well liked by everyone who knew him, from friends to the employees behind the counter at the stores he frequented.

 Ten years ago, my parents invited me to live with them in Florida after the death of my first husband. My Dad was 85 at the time and his energy was incredible. He was a very perceptive man who keenly felt my pain and did everything he could to help me adapt to my new home. Always ready to help, he drove me all around town showing me good places to paint. When I was looking for a gallery to show in, he took me to all the area galleries, even the ones an hour and a half away.

 He was a man of many talents and interests, a chemical engineer by trade, but  also an inventor, a business owner, an avid photographer and an incredible cook. When I needed frames for an upcoming show, he bought lengths of molding then scoured the internet for the exact hardware to make precisely the right frames. He had the perfect tool for every minute task whether in the garage or the kitchen. This painting was one of the ones he framed and one that he liked.

Little Sabine Bay

About 15 or so years ago, my Dad sent me a photo he had taken in the Naval Live Oaks Preserve in Gulf Breeze Florida. I was living in New Jersey at the time and had never visited Florida but I painted this scene from his photo and gave it to my parents.

These flowers are another painting that became part of his collection when he admired the finished result.

I'll miss my Dad's very personal and unique presence on this earth and the warmth of his love for those of us fortunate to be his family. He was the only one who could with complete naturalness call me honeybunch, punkin, or sweetheart.

Salvatore Joseph Grillo - 9/13/'18 - 8/31/'13