DAD'S HIDDEN TALENT

It seems that every time I get to spend some time with my father, I learn of some new amazing talent that he has possessed that for some reason, I never noticed. On Monday evening I had the opportunity to celebrate my fathers seventy second birthday, a blessing in itself. During the evening I began looking in detail at some Halloween decorations that mom and dad had up on the counter. As I looked closer I began to realize that these were the work of my father.

My dad is and always will be my hero. He is my friend when I need one, my mentor when it was time to learn, my role model on all things good, my disciplinarian when it was needed and although it wasn't very often, trust me it was needed, my earthly hero and at times, my better. Dad was dad, loving, tough, wise and a great role model on life. I knew he had some talents but over the years I have realized just how much talent dad truly possesses. It seems that every time I turn around, I realize I am still learning from the things dad taught me as a child, a teenager, a young adult and yes even now.

But on Monday I learned about another talent of dad's. I learned at an early age that I have a little talent in the field of oil painting. I have never expanded on that talent as it, well, bored me. I discovered later in life that my brother is one of the most talented individuals I know. He can paint, both oil and water colors, he can sculpt, draw, sketch and is an awesome photographer. His painting talent truly showed up the first time he ever showed any of his paintings. A friend of his asked him if he would be interested in showing and possibly selling three paintings that he had laying in his apartment. After about twelve seconds, my brother agreed, having no expectations that the paintings would sell at all. Boy were we all surprised. All three paintings sold for the asking price to one lady and within just a few hours of the showing being opened. With his initial success, he sat out to see if he could do it again, and once again, at the very next showing, he sold both paintings he had created at the asking price. To the family, we were totally amazed as we all realize he is the smartest and most talented individual in the entire family, but at that point, had done very little with it.

The big problem was we really had no idea where we got any of our talent from. So for forty four years I just blew it off as luck. The truth is, it wasn't luck at all. Last night proved it was genetics. You see the talent we received come straight from dear old dad. Dad had possessed this amazing talent, I assume, all of his life. But to this date, was hidden from anyone except mother. Mom knew all along where her sons got there talent. It wasn't from her or just by sheer chance, but it was from dad.


The items pictured in this blog were created, from scratch, by dad. The two items on the left are five inch post that he cut and sheered off to get the correct form, then painted and decorated the entire piece by free hand. The eyes, mouth, cheeks and even nose are so well defined it is almost life like. Dad had created many masterpieces that for many years have adorned there home, all the time all of us seeing but never truly understanding or realizing his talent.

One interesting note, he signs every piece on the bottom by painting a winter scene of a snowman with his name, USA and the date painted in red. I must admit, I have an amazing dad. Enjoy the rest of the photos.

And to dad on veterans day. Thank you for being my father. For your leadership, guidance, understanding and most importantly, your love. I love you dad.

Sincerely,
Chip