Descending Ashtray

My first memories of art involved spending time with my father. He would take me along to different places and I would help him or create beside him.

When I was around 5 years old I remember going to Gray’s Lake to do a watercolor painting. My father parked his old green Dodge truck just east of the pennisula there. He gave me some paper and paints and began working on a his painting. I watched him. Then I, looking out across the lake began to do my very own watercolor. (That simple act of just painting beside me has had a huge impact on the rest of my art, I still think about it whenever I am drawing from life).

We sat in the back of the truck and he gave me a few pointers on how to apply the paint but for the most part we just simply, painted what we saw in front of us. On the horizon line there were many trees and a row of train cars cut through the middle of them. They were black tanker cars. I remember painting the water and the pennisula. I can still visulalize every detail of being there. I have often wondered if the reason I can remember that time so well was because I was creating that painting.

My father had many different jobs when I was growing up. Everything from roofing to modeling to window washing and many times he would take me along with him. I would help him out and watch what he did. My favorite place to go, however, was always his studio. He had a woodshop and was starting Sticks at the time. He would spend hours creating new and different sculptures. I always looked forward to what he was going to make next and part of me wanted to do what he did. So I would copy my father and make miniature sculptures of things that he had created. One of the first things that I had made was a tiny flying cow. It was only three inches tall but it had wings and a tail and legs just like the larger ones my father would make. Everyone around me saw what I had done and loved it. And not too long after that I was creating entire chess sets of miniatures. I think that I really enjoyed seeing peoples response to what I had made. That communication through my work and unveiling of new ideas still drives me to create, even today.