Saturday, June 20, 2015

My Dad

I know father's day, as with many other "holidays" are nothing more than contrived days by business entities. Still this particular day made me think of the talents my father had. Though he never had any formal training and considering the time and place he grew up in, my dad could effortlessly play the piano and draw. He always drew but he never painted until one Christmas my sister gave him a set of oil paints. He was off to the races. After learning some basics, he set out to recreate pats of the Sistine Chapel. Not on the cellar ceiling but rather large paintings. He did 10 or 12 of them. They stood around 3 feet high or so. Here are two of them.



He did a few portraits then settled on landscapes. He saw this artist on PBS. I forget his name but he could whip up a landscape painting in less than a half hour. It seems my father said, "I can do that."
Here are some of his landscapes. I have six of them hanging in my living room. I showed those 5 or 6 years ago. These are others that I have photographed.

 


     









All these feature pretty much the same theme. I can't actually say all of these were done in a half hour because I know they weren't. And yet if you look at it and think that it's well detailed, you would be surprised to learn it's fairly easy and quick with certain size brushes.
I know nothing about painting but I did see my dad paint and it just came to him naturally.

Here's my dad and me in Royall Park in my hometown, on my mother's birthday June 13, 1953. 
 So happy Fathers Day dad. Thanks for a wonderful childhood.

I'm outta here.

7 comments:

  1. Wow your Father had the talent. The paintings are wonderful. He sure was a handsome man. But then again to me all Italians are ;-)

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  2. I loved this. I recall when you told us about him and his remarkable talent and showed us some of his work before when it was us guys on Spaces. Maybe it was after Spaces but I sure remember and I STILL admire the talent he innately had.

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  3. Boston Boy, Your father had a real talent. I loved his paintings. The landscapes look like something a fellow called Bob Ross would paint in a 1/2 hour show. Bob has an afro hair-do but he was a slim white fellow. I like the stories of your family. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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  4. I definitely know why you have such a sensitive eye for your photography. Artistic genes are strong!

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  6. Bob Ross, was the man behind the easel on PBS’s “The Joy of Painting.” I think this is the man your dad followed and learned from. I used to watch the show. He was easy to understand.
    Bob always said, “Let’s learn this together.” He didn’t put people down, and he made people think they could do it, and together they would learn to do it.
    Bob lived in Alaska, and he was pretty much only interested in painting Alaskan scenery. He was stationed in Alaska, in the Air Force. He was born in Daytona, Florida, and joined the Air Force when he was quite young. He was stationed in Alaska maybe 20 years, and that’s reflected in what he paints. He was in Anchorage. Actually, Fairbanks.
    How many times did Bob paint people? I will tell you Bob’s biggest secret. If you notice, his cabins never had chimneys. That’s because chimneys represented people, and he didn’t want any sign of a person in his paintings. Check the cabins: They have no chimneys. Two times he painted people. There was a man by a campfire and two people walking through the woods. (I got this information from the internet.)

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  7. Oh love the paintings Paul. I love the Castle that would be on my wall without a doubt, beautiful.
    Your father was indeed a clever and talented man.

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