Although Trudy dabbled with painting early in the 70s, she reluctantly put down her brushes to work and raise four children, which hardly left time for artistic endeavors.

Then in 2008, after much prodding by her family, Trudy finally decided to give painting another go. This time she became passionate about it. With impromptu lessons from her neighbor, George Dimichina (an accomplished professional artist), as well as classes from Marilyn Oropeza (Garden Grove Senior Center), she quickly progressed and in three short years completed more than 50 paintings.

Here is a gallery of Trudy’s paintings. Most of them are originals that Trudy painted using original photographs as reference. Some of them are copies of works of other artists that Trudy was inspired to paint.

Trudy passed away on December 13th, 2010 at the age of 85, just one year and three days after her beloved husband, Joseph. The silver lining is that she went out on a high note. The past year was spent painting and enjoying time with family and friends.

Although she missed Joseph and sometimes felt lonely, she pursued her love of painting and that kept her absorbed.

I would talk with her on the phone often and she always started the conversation with a discussion of her latest painting. Trudy would sometimes despair that she couldn’t achieve the color she wanted or get the effect that was needed, but in the end, she always pulled it off.

She was an amazing artist and did an incredible body of work in a very short time.

What a legacy she left her family and friends. We will remember her with much love for the rest of our days.