Becoming

Opal grew up near Jeff, at the end of a long dirt road by Lake Superior. Her childhood was full of climbing, swimming, and the freedom of a life outdoors. When he painted her at thirteen, she wore what he understood to be her first truly fancy dress, bought for a cousin's wedding.

The dress gave him a glimpse of change in someone he already knew. A child accustomed to movement stood still for a moment, poised between the tomboy she had been and the young woman she was becoming. The painting holds onto that brief transition and the quiet maturity he had long noticed in her.