When I was young, my Grandpa took me under his wing and showed me the joy of painting. "Paint whatever you want" he would say... and we would spend all morning in his studio doing just that. Grandpa (Howard McGee) learned about the joy of painting in his 60's and created beautiful works of art for everyone he knew. To me, his trademark was the sky in his paintings... always a beautiful splash of colour like the northern lights. He wasn't afraid of using colour, all colours, to accent or highlight a particular feature in his latest work. He would paint on anything: shingles from the old arena, scraps of masonite and wine bottles... he was partial to the Mateus bottles.

With me on every trip to Grandpa and Grandma's was one of my Dad's work shirts for me to wear when painting. My Mom would have already shortened the sleeves and put elastic at the wrists to help me from getting oil paint all over my good clothes... it was a valiant effort on her part. I really don't know whether it worked or not because I remember alot of cleaning with turp's (turpentine) happening.

I loved those weekends in the basement studio with Grandpa.