Surviving Spirits

I tend to paint my feelings and words more than speak because I find it easier to get out what I'm trying to say. I picked this piece "surviving spirits" to go with the subject of my father, Dewey Landreth. Dad passed on Thanksgiving evening this year. His life had not been an easy one. He lost his father as a child in a family of ten children. He was sent to Indian boarding school to be taught how "not" to be Indian. He escaped and road a train back to his home in Ringling, OK. When World War II broke out he joined and served the Marine Corp beginning with Guadalcanal and ending with Chosin Reservoir in Korea. He wandered a bit until he meet my mother and began our family. What I loved about him the most was that he was a man of quiet grace and kindness to all he met. We never had a lot things or money but we had much love in the house.
The painting "Surviving Spirits" is devoted to theme of the unconquerable soul. The native american family is taken from a vintage photo. The tree used to shade them is located in downtown Oklahoma City. It spent many years living anonymously in a parking lot and I would drive by and notice it out of the corner of my eye. It took on a whole new meaning after a ridiculous man named Timothy McVeigh blew up the building next to it. I have watched the native american community bring itself up from a long period living on the government's welfare to thriving communities with businesses, education, healthcare and infrastructure. Just as that tree survived so to has the native american spirit, in spite of the many attempts to dissolute it. And tying into that - my father's spirit only wavered once in the fifty years I got to spend with him. That was at the passing of my mother.
I hope you enjoy this painting. If you are in tough times, too, like so many of us are, remember that you get through them easier by sharing and not by hoarding what you have. My Dad always shared.