Day 1 - Sketch for a Painting
Linda Hamilton recently commissioned me to do a painting of her father and mother and his Stockford Mill, which was situated alongside the Eel River at Kirkland, NB (actually, not too far distant from where I live). She had been in touch with me earlier, regarding the painting and was understandingly somewhat apprehensive about proceeding with the commission since the painting will be displayed on her father's casket, after his death. The funeral parlor that gave me the material for the painting wants to use the finished product as a possible alternative to some of the more generic signage that is used during the funeral. However, Linda just didn't feel comfortable about having it on display while her father was still alive, her mother having already passed away several years earlier.
Linda's father, Walter, suddenly took a nosedive a very short time ago and is now in the hospital. At 99.5 years of age, it came as no surprise. Among other health issues he was diagnosed with pneumonia, which as we all know, especially concerning the elderly, can be very serious and even fatal. Apparently, when the he was brought into the hospital, he told the doctor, "I'm almost 100 years old. Try to keep me alive for about another six months, I'd really like to reach 100." He also said to Linda, being at one time extremely active and an outdoors man, "If I could only get on my 3-wheeler and head out into the woods and collect some firewood, I think everything would be alright."
I've painted three other paintings concerning people who were dying or already dead, including one (dying from cancer) who watched me the entire time painting a mural in his backyard, the paint barely dry before he passed away. I realize I should be hurrying with this painting because Linda's father could die at any moment but I've decided to take it a little slow. You see, I have mixed emotions about this painting, especially after one person (whom I knew quite well) died only 2 days after the mural was completed. I'm thinking, if I take my time, not so much to do a really good job for Linda but if I can draw out the process just a little longer than usual, it just might help aid old Walter to live another 6 months or even longer. But then again, if he should die real soon, it would be nice to have finished the painting because he would probably enjoy seeing it, especially since the portrait of him and his wife was most likely taken during one of their very many wedding anniversaries. Linda and I discussed putting the dates of their births and deaths on the painting but we both came to the same conclusion that the painting wasn't a memorial but something that could be passed down through the generations and didn't signify death in any manner - just two people who loved one another to the end and Stockford Mill, which fulfilled an important portion of their lives.
I'm working from some old black and white photos, newspaper shots, plus a few colour photos - none of them having a great deal of clarity. However, I feel as long as I can pull off Linda's parents being recognizable, the painting will be a success.
Well, time to dig out my brushes, squeeze a little acrylic paint out of the tubes and start splashing some colours on the piece of card - Cheers, eh!
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