pink skies

oil, string & mixed media on Masonite board, 16.6" x 20" [work in progress]

When i was little (around 10 or younger?), i remembered one time noticing how red the sky was turning as the sun was going down. I was outside walking with my dad at the time. All around us, there was this sudden pink glow everwhere. I loved it.

For some reason, i started skipping to this rhyme in Chinese without really knowing what i was saying. In translation, it goes something like this: Red red sky, the elderly is going to freeze and die.

As soon as i said that, my dad scolded at me and told me not to say that again. I was a little taken back because my dad, in all his gentle ways, hardly ever snaps at any one of us. I stopped to think why and immediately thought of my grandmother sick in bed all the time.

It was then that i understood how important my grandmother was to my dad even though he never expressed it. I started to see my dad in a new light, knowing that a lot of what is unspoken runs deep within him.

It is like what my mom says: If you want to see how much the man loves you, just look at his actions, not any lovey dovey words that he doesn't say.

Happy Father's Day, BA!