Husband Brag Session

In an attempt to redeem myself for the many times that I take my husband for granted, I'd like to brag about him for a change. This past week, Kurt (who is a teacher) was on spring break. Like most husbands who have a significant chunk of time off from work, he was assigned a few tasks around the house to complete before going back to the grindstone. Amid those tasks, he also completed a wonderful project for our son, Kurt Jr.

First let me get you up to speed about something: Kurt (Sr.), now 47, is a landscape artist. This just came into being about seven years ago. Up until then, he was just your ordinary guy, who would mumble a reply of "Uh-huh" on all of the many walks we took in the evening here in Texas when I would rant and rave in awe of the lovely colors of the sunset. (Thank you to polluted Houston for that!) At the time, we had lived in our house for about three years. Our walls were still mostly bare, because we couldn't agree on purchasing any kind of art that we both liked. Kurt's mom, an art major and artist herself, suggested that we simply paint some pictures together and hang them on our walls. My response was a very sarcastic, "Yeah, right" as I never advanced from stick figures and finger paints from my childhood years. Kurt was intrigued by the idea, however, and began painting. Over the years, he's become quite good at his craft and his paintings adorn our walls. Here is a painting he recently finished that now hangs over our fireplace mantel:


And here is one of my favorites which hangs in our front hallway:


Lastly, here is his work that always makes me smile when I look at it. It is Kurt's painting of the Fairy Tale Meadow framed by the Karawanken Mountains in Austria, where Kurt and I met and went on our very first date. Kurt is a fanatical mountain climber and hiker, and this date was a "test", a supposedly "easy" 7 hour hike to test my love of the outdoors and physical prowess. I passed the test but could barely walk for the next 5 days. (Not kidding.)


So, now that I've bragged a little about my husband's artistic skills, it's on to the project that he completed for our son this past week. Kurt's "studio" is our garage. He built himself his own monstrous easel and spends whatever time he can (which isn't much as a dad of a preschooler) creating additional masterpieces. Kurt decided that Kurt Jr. needed to have an easel of his own, too, so he built a miniature one for him and even a little table next to it to organize his paints. Our son loves it! He and Papa can now paint side by side to their hearts' desire. This is the two of them hard at work:


Isn't that just the sweetest thing??

And here's Kurt Jr. happy as a clam with his easel and paint table:


I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father to our son!