This post was supposed to be about my transition from carving in the round to carving in relief. It should also have been written in May of last year but punctuality was never my strong suit!! Having taken receipt of my Grandad's work I decided to make this post about him and my Dad.

So, as I mentioned previously, my arty side is something that has been handed down through the generations. Certainly my Grandad was artistic and, though it's full potential was never realised, my Dad was definitely in possession of artistic genes. I shouldn't forget to mention Mum at this point. A little like Dad, she hasn't really found her mojo with regard to art. But, she is far from being void of artistic ability.

Dad has had his moments. Some of the furniture he has created for his house has been quite artistic. In particular I remember a big wine rack he made out of ceramic drainage pipes which might sound dubious but really was both practical and a great centre piece of his kitchen . As for actual pieces of art, Dad did produce a number of works using the 'Nail and String' technique. Something like this.

This is not actually one of his pieces. We have no pictures of them unfortunately.

Dad was never much of a drinker but I do remember one evening he came home having been on the lash. He slept for a while and woke with a thumping head only to have to start banging in the nails for one of these pictures that he'd promised to have completed that night!!

Anyway, Dad also carved two 'in the round' pieces of sculpture. Again, as I mentioned in a previous post, the Dolphin piece lost it's tail at some point and wouldn't stand up. I think it was put in a drawer somewhere and then disappeared during a house move.

The other piece was of a fish. I don't know if it represents an actual fish - it's looks to me like more of a stylised piece. It's made up of 5 pieces of wood that were laminated to give a piece large enough to take the shape. I don't really do ornaments myself but I love that I have a piece of Dads work - his fish will always be on display in my house.

Then there was Grandad. I've already talked about his life, albeit briefly. But I'd like to focus on his art in this post. I've recently recovered all of his pieces that remain in our possession. Most of them need restoration to some degree as they've spent many years tucked away in a loft. That's a project for the future and one I intend to carry out myself. I've removed all of the old frames and, once they're cleaned and repainted where necessary, I'll make new frames for them. None of them are Turners, Constables, Monets or Picassos. But, they are Albert Atkinsons and that means the world to me. The first 3 below are portraits and the last 3 are landscapes. I've done some minor digital tweaking to remove some of the damp marks for the purpose of this post but, essentially, you are seeing them as they were finished by the old boy.

For those that never knew us as children .... this is me!! It's probably quite obvious being as I've hardly aged! ;) Most people would probably agree with that sentence ..... if it ended with the word 'mentally'!!

And this is my little Brother. Phil was better known to my Grandad as 'Agro'! He really wasn't that bad - just a little more boisterous and active than me. Nothings changed there!! Joking Bruv :)

I don't recall the name of this horse but, as a lover of horses, I love this picture.

Sadly, I'm unable to give any background to the creation and inspiration for these 3 paintings. I think I was 15 when Grandad passed. We had moved away from London by then and saw very little of him during the 6 years before he left us. For that reason, and the fact that football and girls took precedent over my creative tendencies while I was a young teenager, I never got to talk to him about his art. All I can do now is give them a new lease of life and enjoy them.