My Great-Grandfather’s Palette

I know, I know, no art from Keyhole this week, as it was a photography session this week, and I’m no photographer. I’m still trying to work out what I am, but I know it’s not a photographer. So, moving on, here’s a story about my great-grandfather Hannes Kaskela.
Hannes had a lot of jobs. A lot. When he still lived in Finland, he was a mailman, policeman (K9 division) and an army officer. After moving to North America, he was a miner, a carpenter and a chicken farmer, among other things. He even built a little house in the woods of Connecticut, in which his daughter (my great-aunt) still lives. Built into the stonework are several artifacts he collected over his travels, including an paleolithic stone tool and a piece of the original White House (the one we burned down)

Hannes and his brother, with some of their paintings

Hannes was also a painter. During the depression, he painted in exchange for food and medicine. Many of his paintings are still displayed in churches throughout North America. One of them is even in the Sudbury area church where my late grandmother was both married and had her memorial in.

Bet you never thought you'd see a painting like this on my site

Back when I was in high school, I was visiting the house in Connecticut, and while in the basement I found a palette hanging on one of the ceiling beams. It turns out this was Hannes’s palette, which for some reason no one had been able to track down. There it was, just hanging on a nail.

Hannes's Palette

So, that’s how I inherited my great-grandfather’s palette. While I may not paint like he did, and I sure as hell can’t paint in exchange for food (although wouldn’t that be sweet?) I’m still proud to use it, and I intend to pass it down if I have children who are artistically inclined. Which they damn well better be, our family’s got a tradition to uphold now

My acrylic on top, with Hannes's oil paint beneath. It will eventually be like archeological layers of a family's creativity.