Out of the blue...

a painting appears.

The other day I found an email in an account I had been unable to access for months. A total stranger had written to let me know he had found this painting in an antique shop in Quebec and reached out to see if it was one of Dad’s. It is - one likely painted for one of his trips to Ontario and Quebec where he sold his work to a number of collectors back in the early 1970’s.

This one, of Sunshine Meadows (Dad titled it Spring: Sunshine Valley) was painted in 1974, according to the signature. Unfortunately, at some point, he stopped dating his work, but this one was likely done in Banff after a day of sketching, painting, and photography near Sunshine.

Back in the day, Dad loved to walk (including to places like Sunshine Meadows) and his long legs (well, certainly long compared to my stubby appendages) meant I hopped, skipped, and jogged to keep up. I was flat-out busy with other things today, so haven’t had time to fully develop any panels, but I did do these two pages of scribbly visual notes relating to two persistent impressions of my father.

First, the walking -

(and me, running to keep up) and second, the painting.

When I was growing up, regardless of where we were, whether he was teaching or not, he painted every single day, often through the night if the daylight hours were taken with other responsibilities. That is perhaps why I’ve decided to tackle this project in daily chunks :)

We moved quite often, and the first thing that was set up in a new place was his studio. My mother’s darkroom followed closely behind. Over the years he worked in all manner of spaces - often cramped, not well-ventilated (how he didn’t poison himself with fumes I don’t know), and chilly (my memories of his years in northern Alberta are forever accompanied by the hum of electric heaters strategically placed closed to his easel).

Watching him settle down to work wherever he happened to be definitely informed my own ability to write wherever and whenever I had/have a moment.

I’m rushing out yet again so will leave this a bit ragged around the edges, but I did want to say that if you happen to know of someone with one of Dad’s paintings (he signed either Colin Williams or E. Colin Williams), let me know. I’m collecting images and will set up an online gallery of his work as a virtual retrospective… I have a few more in the files from others who have contacted me over the years and will post them here in these daily posts as I accumulate enough to put together a show.

See you tomorrow!