SUNSET REFLECTION

ALOHA ONCE AGAIN
I recall that great moment in time when my grandfather, Frederick Charles Fritz, awarded me with my very own set of brushes. His studio was a small room in his five room apartment, on the fifth floor of the building addressed 117 Walton Avenue, Bronx, New York. We, meaning my mother, brother and he the master and grandmother lived there together. The building was a walk up apartment building. The constant climbing of those stairs three, four times and more a day kept all of us quite fit. But it was that tiny room that smelled of turpentine and oils that held out it's magic to me. In there he would sit at his easel and paint landscapes and animals. On weekends he and I and they pet bull terrier would walk the five or so miles to The Bronx Zoo, where he would sketch. All of this inspired me to become an artist as well. My first paintings were in fact copies of his art. I applied his lion to the back of my leather jacket. Those brushes he handed me were his invitation to follow the artist's path. It has been a full and exciting adventure. It's all about reflections now as I grow older.