Art The Oil Painter Poem by Grace Hays

you may have worked as a mechanic
but i'll always remember your paintings
and how you made them come to life
and make it look like i was looking out a window

transmissions, tractors and combines
your specialty at the shop
but when it came to paintings
you had a studio in your house

i don't know if you ever sold any
but i sure would buy your paintings
for you had such great talent
with the artwork that you did with your oil paints

there was a time
when i asked you to paint one for my mom
it was her Christmas present i think
and it was of her dog Rocky

i knew that she missed him so
and i gave you a picture i had of him
and to this day my mom still has that painting
that you made so life-like of him

we used to think
that he could walk right off canvas
thought we were looking out the window
when it was just an oil painting of him

i even remember
your paintings of farms
with barns and animals
my favorites though
were of the woods and wildlife

i keep wanting to ask you
if you remember our vacation trips
and then i remember
that you're not here anymore
then the tears start to fall again

the memories of us
at Gettysburg, PA and Mount Rushmore
the trip to Pioneer Village in Minden, NE
(the last time i went i thought of you)
i even remember how much fun
it was to watch you take pictures of the battlefield

i even remember going into Missouri and Arkansas
to tour battlefields there with you
of course mom and dad were with us on all these trips
but the fun we had with you there will always be with me

i think that your inspiration for your oil paintings
came from trips like those
for sometimes i thought i could recognize
a place or two we had been

you will always be in my heart
and with me everyday
as i strive to do the same as you
with my own works of art

for you are an inspiration
my dear sweet Great Uncle Art
for some of the poems that i have written
because i could see them as paintings you had made

This is dedicated to the memory of my Great Uncle Arthur Ledru Boileau who passed away on December 24,2006 (i love you and miss you) written on December 29,2006