Gone Like the Summer Wind

Honestly, I can’t remember what year I painted my father in this small watercolor.  I know we were on a family vacation at an upstate NY resort he liked to visit.  I had just started using watercolor paints after taking that horrible class. 

I brought my supplies along and painted who ever was sitting at the pool.  When we were young my pop would pose for portrait assignments for school projects.  He’d put on a far away gaze as if looking out into the world.  He would do that for a casual photo too, unless he was in a fun mood, when he’d make a silly face by crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out to the side.

Today marks five years that he’s gone from us and I just needed to remember him here.  Five years, and it hurts like it happened yesterday.  He was very intense person and artist.  He loved all his family very deeply and had a strong art/music influence on us, his kids and grandkids.  As a huge Frank Sinatra fan and collector, we heard Sinatra in our house so often that my sister and I could sing in Frank’s style!  Frank’s music is piped in every department store I go to and when I hear him I say “Hi Pop!”  Here’s to you, Pop.

Frank Sinatra, 1966

The summer wind, came blowin’ in, from across the sea

It lingered there, to touch your hair and walk with me

All summer long, we sang a song and strolled on golden sand

Two sweethearts, and the summer wind

Like painted kites, those days and nights, went flyin’ by

The world was new, beneath a blue umbrella sky

Then softer than a piper man, one day it called to you

And I lost you to the summer wind

The autumn wind, and the winter wind, have come and gone

And still the days, those lonely days, go on and on

And guess who sighs his lullabies, through nights that never end

My fickle friend, the summer wind