My brother

My brother was a wildlife artist, ducks mostly, but he did paint wolves, a precious baby seal, eagles and at least one swan. He did one of a mountain lion and that is my favorite. He told me that he was so frustrated painting that one because he had trouble getting the eyes right. His wife told him, jokingly, that he should use his own eyes, and he did. He was able to finish the painting by using a mirror to see his eyes. The color, of course was not his, but HE is there, somehow. He always had this ‘aren’t we all just so silly’ look in his eyes. You wanted to be near him to share in the joke.

When he died in July of 2000, his wife told me to take a painting and also at least one of all his prints. The ones he had at his apartment in Ohio, anyway. Most of his paintings are at his home in Washington State. I chose the mountain lion. And, it is now hanging on my bedroom wall. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part, but I sometimes think he is there watching me. And, telling me to not take life so seriously, that this too will pass. There have been countless times that I have been upset over something and I go in and look at the mountain lion and before I know it, I do see things in a different light.

I would give anything to have him still here with me, but having something that he put so much of himself in is a good second choice.