Speed of Life

  Got the word from my brother last night that my Mom has now moved on to hospice. Packing up our things today - MSue and I will drive North to Pacific Grove tomorrow where my Mom is resting before her great ride on the Mystery Train. Two years ago I was honored to present this painting to a collection of journalists from the UK who were in Santa Monica for Frieze Week. I choked up a bit while describing this painting. My Mom grew up in Newark, New Jersey. Weequahic High grad. Daughter of a Jersey Central Railway engineer.  @jimmybuffs  aficionado. She ventured from the Newark Bay to explore the world with my Dad -  @marines . In this painting, I have gathered a number of her remembrances into an homage to Mom and life itself. The woman in pink seems to be a metaphoric representation of Mom - a young Peg Susan Chadwick on a Newark bridge looking out towards NYC and the world beyond. I can hear her saying -  "Look, I see sunshine!" - "Exit to Station" oil on line...

Gregg Chadwick Lightning (Edith Desch) 36"x 24" oil on linen 2018 Jersey Memories - Grandma Desch by Gregg Chadwick When I was little and my dad was off in Vietnam during the war, we lived in a small, rented carriage house behind a big estate. On the way to school each morning we would walk by the train platform full of commuters waiting for their ride into the city. I knew my Grandpa Desch drove trains and I often wondered as we passed over the tracks on the bridge on Ridgewood Avenue whether he was in one of the engines down below. It's only thirty minutes by train from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, to Penn Station in Manhattan. Yet, there seemed to be a world of difference between my town with its quiet gas-lamp lit streets and the bustling avenues in New York City. The train was the artery between those two worlds and I never forgot it.  The kitchen in Garwood was where Grandma Desch would spread her warmth.  In a similar fashion...