My Uncle - The Artist

My uncle Harold was an artist - a painter. I don't think that I appreciated his artistic ability when I was younger. I really didn't relate to his style of painting, nor to the farm landscapes that he usually painted. I liked farms and old barns, but I never really considered hanging a painting of one on my wall. Actually, I liked big cities better and related more to pictures that depicted those settings. Harold wasn't a "big city" kind of guy. It wasn't until after he passed away that I became aware of the recognition he had received for his paintings. In the little town of Casey, Illinois, as well as in the surrounding area, he was a fairly well known artist. His work did not garner large amounts of money when they sold, at least not in the seventies, but for the area in which he lived it was notable art work.

If Harold ever gave his brother, my Dad, any of his paintings, I was not aware of it. I got a photograph of one his paintings (shown to the right of the blog page, with a larger version at the bottom of the page) by using a 35mm camera to take a picture of the painting. The painting was hanging on a wall in his home. His wife, Anita, (I never actually called her my aunt) let me take the photograph. Harold had died a few years prior to the time that I took this blog picture. I went to Casey, Illinois - from Louisville, Kentucky - for what I thought would be my last visit to that part of the country. But... I may go back to Casey this fall, when I visit friends in Louisville. If I do, it will just be for old times sake - and to see if anyone still remembers Harold Davis - the artist.