Janice Paints Shirley Armstrong

Oil on Canvas - 24x20

I was thrilled to hear from Shirley Armstrong Huminck, of Sayre, PA, who was painted by my mother in the late 1950's. See below for her account the experience:



Angela Candela,

As I remember the year was 1956 possibly 1957. My husband Jack Armstrong was delivering something to Athens High School when he noticed two oil paintings by Janice Candela on display. The paintings were of a typical young boy and girl. Jack was happy to note that the artist was originally from Athens , Pa. He was really impressed by her artistry and began to inquire as to her whereabouts and found out that she was living in Dobbs Ferry , N.Y. Jack soon contacted the artist and informed her he would like her to paint my portrait. She agreed and said she would contact us over Thanksgiving.

At the time we were renting an old coach house on the Simmons estate on Lockhart Street in Sayre , Pa. I recall my first meeting with Janice that she was a beautiful women and her husband came with her for the sitting. I put on my very best dress, sat down and she looked at me from every angle and proceeded to take reference pictures of me. I put a smear of my make-up on a piece of paper and she also took a snip of my hair for her color references. When she asked me what colors I would like incorporated in the background I said red and she seemed very pleased with that request.

I was so excited. This was going to be my Christmas present. A few days later though I recall having a very bad dream…she had painted the back of my head! Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled with her final result. There was only one drawback, when I would look at that oil portrait first thing in the morning and think “Oh man, I’ve gotta look like that today!”

It was the 1950s and my portrait was the nicest furnishing we had. We were just starting out and I remember our coffee table, a finished birch door from the lumber yard…..no hinges nor knob and the legs were cinder blocks painted white.

Our entertainment was an eight inch black and white television set with only one channel that came on at 5PM with Cowboy Bill followed by Howdy Doody and promptly off the air at 11PM. Somehow it didn’t matter. We were happy, we had a used sofa, coffee table and a lovely oil portrait.

Shirley J Huminik