Those Who Do It Well - Don Hamilton, Painter

Jennifer & I have been taking our time finding the latest addition to The List - 'Those who do it well'.  It's about quality at Take2, not quantity, and Don Hamilton is our man. 

Who is Don Hamilton?
Don is an exceptional plein air artist able to see light, color and subjects in a way that make his paintings compliment both traditional and modern settings.  Tomorrow expect some postings of his beautiful art, but for today . . . meet the man & see what he values.

Don Hamilton's collection of meaningful objects.  

1. The background is a construction paper collage my son made in kindergarten (He is now 27).  It is of an alligator, and at one time the alligator was a bright “alligator green”, but has faded significantly over time.  This was one of the first times we realized his artistic talent, and I recognized how we pass our influence on to our children.

2. The family bible represents my faith as a guiding force in my life, and a belief that we are made in the image of the creator.  As such we all have creativity within each of us, we just need to allow it to surface and express itself.

3. The horn on top of the bible is the horn of a Mountain Goat from the Bella Coola region, which is located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia in Canada.  When I as 19 a friend of mine and I took an adventure trip from Colorado to Canada in a 1949 Willis Jeep pickup with a homemade camper on the back.  After picking up a stranger hitchhiking on the Trans Canada highway we began a long hike over the Bella Coola pass.  We got lost and ran out of food about 5 days into our hike.  On the 6^th day we encountered a mountain goat that we shot, which fed us for the next 5 or 6 days, along with berries and other small game while we continued to hike.  Eventually after 15 days we were rescued by loggers on the Dean River.  This horn represents sacrifice and belief in a future.

4.  The oversize tin cup with large colored pencils was a gift from my wife.  In my past life working in corporate america this gift sat in my office as a daily reminder of my creative side, while also inviting interesting doodles from visitors, allowing them to get in touch with their creative side as well.

5. The antique pencil sharpener in the foreground was my grandfather’s, and he used it until he could no longer hold a pencil.  This pencil sharpener is likely 70 or 80 years old and still functional.  My grandfather was a master stonecutter and I would often study his designs and layouts, they were amazing.  He would often critique my early drawings, even hanging one on his studio door when I was about 12.  This drawing hung on his door until the day he passed on.  He was a big influence on my artistic career.

6.  The drawing table these items are sitting on was also my grandfather’s.  He had the habit of tacking his drawings one on top of another, never removing the earlier ones.   When he passed on there were probably 50 different drawings tacked on the table (you can still see the hundreds of tack marks on the surface of the table).