Tom Forrestall painting video with grandson Max & Monica

With all the American holidays looming (Thanksgiving next week) I'm feeling sentimental about family. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, is one of our dad's (Tom Forrestall) favorite expressions. So I'm re-visiting summer in Nova Scotia, and family whom I love, by sharing a little video, below,  that my husband, Kerry made of our dear dad painting watercolors with Max. Dad started the painting session after lunch one afternoon, at our house in Karsdale. Taken with a vase of purple phlox that my friend Lorraine Beswick gave me after a visit to her gardens, dad pulled out his paint kit. The bouquet was sitting on a windowsill with pretty light behind it. Max watched his grandfather painting for a little while, then announced he wanted to paint too. I had set up a summer studio in the back porch for us, but I moved a small folding table in place with Max's watercolors and brushes. Max created an arrangement of a plastic super power figure scotch taped to the fridge. Undisturbed by the goings on (my dad is impervious to minor distractions once he is painting) which my sister Renee hilariously commented on in an earlier blog. Dad is telling a funny story here about when he was in Rome doing watercolors a couple of years ago. A group of tourists crowded behind him and wanted to photograph the very scene he was sketching believing it must be a truly fine view, if an artist chose to re-create it. Inspired by dad and Max I set up a small table to do a watercolor as well, and soon all three of us were painting. I didn't realise that Kerry had turned on the camera and shot a few minutes of film. He probably realized how much we all miss dad and this was a wonderful way to preserve that moment in time. Here's the link to the short video and some photos Kerry also took below. A little window into a happy family visit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4VMQODCMc

  
Dad starts to paint
and Max is watching him.

Then Max sets himself up and paints with his grandpa.






  An artful shot Kerry took through screened  window (below)

Phlox watercolor dad made in Karsdale.

Max and his cousin Jasmine paint at Annapolis Royal's Paint The Park event in August 2009.

Max and Monica's watercolor pieces for the Paint The Town art show in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.