Mom in Wyoming 1940 (Rescued Snapshot with Digital Color)

I started this project yesterday, November 2, which was my mother's birthday.  I was looking at pictures of her when I found some snapshots of her, all labeled "Rawlins, Wyoming." These were from a big package that my Aunt Edy sent me a few years ago, all photos taken before my mother got married. From other pictures in this set, I could tell this was a bus trip, and the sign on the bus announced that the destination was Los Angeles.  I called my aunt yesterday and she confirmed  that this was a bus trip that they took together, to California. So my Aunt Edy was the photographer!  Yesterday I cleaned up the original snapshot (3" by 4") and posted it here.  I also began to play with the image in Painter, adding color and texture, and finished this morning. My mom seems to have liked strong plaids, and loose trousers.  I love 1940s clothes and had fun inventing the colors. As I worked, I thought about my mother and this triptrip. As I worked, I realized that my mother must have been walking by a gas station, and was probably returning to the bus after buying a snack at a nearby store.  The notes on the margins of the photos mention both Greyhound and Burlington bus lines, so I started wondering if they changed buses in Rawlins. And one of the photos shows a picture of my mother with the bus driver. It is fun to imagine that my mom and my aunt had been flirting with him. This is why I like to work on these projects. I feel like I have spent a little time with my mom, and know her just a little bit better, even though she has been gone since 1984.