Dear Ole' Dad

October 25, 2022

Happy Birthday Dad. You’d be 94 today. Always the reader. Reading next to your homemade BBQ pit was the ultimate afternoon experience. After reading the paper, he would use them to ignite the outdoor stove for dinner. Making good use of paper was so natural to him. In fact, both of my parents knew the value of material goods. They were not wasters. Let me put it this way, the garbage bin was always half full come garbage day. My dad didn’t even use shampoo. A bar of soap would do for all hair and body. The increasing use of plastic in our society was a real concern of his. Rightly so. He would surely "roll over in his grave” if he knew to what extent this next generation consumed. 

 

Note the shorts. I think he was the front runner of cutoff jeans. 

 

Love you dad and thanks for the civic lessons. I still carry them in my heart. Wish I could do better.

Flowers for Algernon

 Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye.

Quote  from Plato's Republic and used to begin the book " Flowers for Algernon"

 

October Orange

I painted this orange as an exercise in a class I took through #visualmindart

Melanie is quite skilled in using gouache. I am hoping it will rub off on me a bit.

 

Inktober Day 3 and 4

She told him a million times NOT to do his batting practice too close to the house!

Inktober Prompt BAT

The Centurion looks on from his vantage point of scalloped clouds. His vision quest has taken him to new heights in hopes of finding a better route to happiness.  His fans hope beyond measure that he can navigate around the climatic chaos.  What will he find? Stay tuned. 

#Inktober2022  Prompt Scallop

Inktober Day 1 and 2

 

Zoey is waving goodbye to her oversized dog who wears a gargoyle mask to help scare away her oppressors. She says goodbye as she has a gargoyle of her own now. And this one can use nature to nurture her growing garden. 

#inktober2022 Day 1 Gargoyle

Charlene is getting her kitchen renovated, and she is losing patience at the pace of the work -- it's the sixth day cooking on a stupid card table, and her contractor just called to tell her he won't be in until the afternoon. Again!

In 5 minutes she's going to have a little disaster, when then electric skillet shorts and the plug starts smoking. That fire extinguisher she always hated on her kitchen wall she will suddenly be very grateful for.

Story by my brother Mark Olmsted.

#inktober2002 Day 2 Scurry