The Studio

image from pinterest

The Studio

“Youth is  gift of nature, but age is 

a work of art.”--Stanislaw Jerzy Lec.

My grandfather was a wonderful artist. His style

was like Charles Russell met Frank Frazetta. He

lived on a couple of acres along the Spokane

River. He converted an outbuilding into his studio.

It had several windows for the natural light. There

was a cold pantry in there too, so the air wafted of

apples and potatoes. It was the smells I remember-

ed most--oil paints, old leather in tack, sheepherder

storm coats & work boots--old paper in stacks of

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, several pieces of aged

fence posts & pungent sprigs of sagebrush. 

He would take months to finish a painting, and 

always seemed to be working on one when we 

would visit. He allowed me to critique works in

progress, a gift not offered to any others.

A pair of osprey

perched on the fence waiting;

fish leaped to their death.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub Haibun