A Tribute To My Parents

Yeah... no models this time. But this is more important.

Below is a special piece of artwork created by my Mother approximately 40 years ago. It’s a poem she created for my Father. She died in 1989 and my Father some 16 years later. This is done completely by hand from scratch, the only way art like this could be done back then. No computers or electronic technology were used at all of course. The original of this artwork measures 12” wide by 16” high. I finally got ‘round to scanning and assembling it in Photoshop. I had to scan it in 5 sections and stitch them together as the whole thing was too large to fit on my flatbed scanner in one piece. You can click on the picture for a higher-resolution version if you want.

Both my parents were commercial artists (My mother specialized in layout and custom lettering, my father in photo retouching and general artwork and special illustration) in Montreal until they were forced into early retirement by leftist Quebec French politicians, who were (and still are) terribly bigoted against Anglophones and were boycotted as a result. We were a family who lived through the mass exodus of English living in Quebec in the 1970s. It’s a dirty part of Canadian history that few will acknowledge, as it doesn’t fit with the “mainstream narrative”.

The art has somewhat faded with age and the paper has a patina, but I think that only adds to the charm by now. I am making this public since the Internet is "forever", and it is my hope that they are never forgotten as a result. I present this here as a tribute to both my parents who deserve a tremendous amount of respect and admiration... well, especially from me to be sure. They are in God's hands now and have been for many years. I am sure they are helping with the decoration of Paradise in any way they can, as both were wonderfully fine artists.

God bless both of you Mom and Dad. I will always love you.