My great-grandfather, Andre Wathier, was sort of an air traffic controller for trains. He sat in a booth in Oneonta, NY, and directed trains coming into the round main station. He had to make sure that two trains weren't coming through the depot at the same time on the criss-crossing tracks. A very stressful job. So stressful, the doctor told him he couldn't do it anymore, because his blood pressure was through the roof. So, he changed his profession and began to fix clocks. And make clocks. He fixed beautiful grandfather clocks by making new wooden gears. He also painted. Mostly nature scenes, but people too. There are a couple of Andre himself, working on one of his clocks. His paintings are now scattered among the family. I have a street scene in France, the Sacre Coeur of Montmartre in the distance, and tiny little man painting it in the middle of the street. I also snagged these panels. When I was little, my mom had them hanging in our foyer, but they were soon relegated to the attic. When I moved to Atlanta, I claimed them for myself. I just love the colors and the style. They are such a contrast to the lakes, trees and docks that were the usual subject of an Andre painting. They are now hanging in the dining room of my new apartment. I needed to put something in between them. I debated hanging a mantel shelf, and then I decided to take elements from the paintings, and create these smaller versions. The paint chips from Behr at the Home Depot helped me match colors, and then it was off to Michael's to get some acrylic paints and canvases.
I traced, I cut patterns, I used my exacto-knife. I think they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And I can see why Andre picked up painting. It's very relaxing, and a nice way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.
