After painting houses for many years, I found myself in a situation where I was out of work and needed Christmas gifts for my sisters. I decided to paint oil portraits of their dogs using the paints and brushes given to me by an artist friend who was moving to Florida. I drew very detailed sketches of each of the dogs on canvas from photos I had taken and more or less filled them in as if they were paint-by-number sets. When I was done, I was satisfied with the paintings, but not having any experience with artwork, I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed doing them. I retired from house painting in 2014 and have been working with watercolors and acrylics ever since.

I also wrote a series of short stories over the years about growing up in northern New Jersey during the 50's and 60's when it was still considered a rural area. and published them on Amazon. Seniors will especially be able to relate to those times, but there are also stories from later years that might appeal to any age. There is a continuity to our lives and relationships that leave a lasting impact on all of us, and I hope I have captured some of those moments in this memoir.

The book is available here:

30 Stories and A Little Adventure

skipvanlenten@gmail.com