36x48 in., acrylic on canvas

From a memory of a long time back, when I was twelve or so, after a cold morning sitting in a deer stand in North Louisiana, shooting nothing that day, and then finding a pear tree still bearing a few fruit in early November and learning that my great grandfather from Turkey planted it, someone who I never met. It’s a pretty simple but good memory of spending time with my uncle and godfather Ernest who was like a second dad to me. He left us too early a few years ago, really unexpectedly, and I’ve been trying to deal with it in the back of my mind the whole time. What I know now is that you really must tell the people you love that you love them and make every day count, even when that’s hard.