Today would have been my father’s birthday but he passed away a few years ago. He was a talented man who could fix anything under the sun. He had a superb sense of humor and was a great artist and my inspiration for art.

Dad was very practical and logical in his thinking. He drew this pen and ink picture the day before his 21st birthday. I was lucky enough to find it mixed in with a bunch of other papers he kept. I was in awe with how beautiful it was. Funny enough, he never hung this masterpiece in the house so I hung it in mine.

When I was a kid, I couldn’t draw well. So dad took the picture I was trying to draw and drew a numbered grid on it. Then he drew another grid on blank paper and told me to copy each square, one at a time until I was finished. This made complete sense to me at the time and thus my adventure in art began. Eventually, I got better and didn’t need the grid as much. I really love this piece by dad because you can still see the numbered grid on it which reminds me of my first art lesson with him.

Dad was an oil painter but I never liked the turpentine smell, it was always very strong so I gravitated to watercolors. I started painting with my sister’s watercolor set by Mayflower with 24 colors. I was having a blast with that. Then for my birthday, mom and dad got me a big watercolor set made in England by Page of London with a whopping 80 colors!!! For a kid who was fascinated with colors, it was like I won the jackpot!!!!

Dad kept pretty much everything so lo and behold, he still had the original paint sets from when I was a kid. Sadly some of my pan colors in the larger set broke and got lost over the years but the sets are in good condition overall. I’m so glad he kept these because they bring back a lot of nice memories.

Thank you Dad for all your patience, creativity and ingenuity in teaching me art!

✨Happy Birthday Dad ✨