Everyone has always asked me how I got to be so artistic. Ok, well nobody has ever really asked me that, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you anyway. It’s genetics. Yep, I come from a family of artists. I guess that’s kinda like coming from a circus family, except that I can’t do any neat acrobatic tricks or spit fire – even though I try both fairly often.
When I was a kid, I spent many a weekend at art shows and craft festivals helping my mom run her booth. My mom was a crafter. She used to make all sorts of poured ceramic things. She even made her own molds and had a kiln in our garage. She hasn’t done much of the commercial crafty stuff since she hurt her back, but she’s got a lot of skill.
My dad is a cabinet maker, which is an art in and of itself, but he also has a lot of other creative outlets. He can make any kind of animal you can imagine with a pair of scissors and cereal box. Yes, a cereal box. Giraffe, turtle, lion, otter, fish; it doesn’t matter, just give the man a small box and he can make one. He also does a lot of painting. Some of his paintings, like the picture above are traditional oil on canvas or wood. My favorite though, are his 3D paintings. He cuts up small pieces of wood, Plexiglas, driftwood, and rope and glues them on a surface to create river and ocean scenes with docks and boats in realistic perspective. He’s an all around artistic guy and has what I like to call a “popsicle stick” sense of humor. One which my wife tells me I’ve inherited as well.
My sister Jenna is an education major at UCF and wants to be a teacher. On the side though, she enjoys photography and pottery has won a few awards with her art. She’s a very creative person and I’m sure that will rub off on her students someday.
Then there’s my brother, Jered. Jered is a Registered Nurse stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California. Very few people know that he has an artistic side as well. In fact, he just emailed me some of his MSPaint artwork this morning:
Aren’t those great??? Click on each for the refrigerator-door worthy 1024×768 versions. I love my artistic family.
Man, I could learn a thing or two from that Jered guy!
-Pablo Picasso
Umm, you didn’t mention how special Jer is but it shines through his artwork!
Jered’s not special. 🙂