This Father’s Day post is dedicated to my husband, who has sketched and painted all his life. Although “artist” is not his official job title, that’s fundamentally who he is. He also happens to be a wonderful father to his two daughters and a terrific stepfather to my daughter and son — an art unto itself.

Lest we get overly sentimental, I would like to point out that living with an artist is not all beer and skittles, as my mother used to say. Bear in mind that certain sacrifices are called for.

The five worst things about living with an artist:

1. There’s at least one sink that is never clean
2. It’s really hard to wash dry paint off someone’s clothes
3. You have to be diplomatic if they create something you hate – and then you still have to live with it
4. You have to learn to interpret grunts as conversation when they’re in the middle of working
5. Painting the bathroom (or anywhere else in the house) holds no allure whatsoever

But on the plus side,

1. You always have beautiful work around you
2. Your partner understands the value of alone time
3. An artist finds an aging person interesting rather than repellant
4. An artist appreciates silence
5. An artist is inspired by variety so he or she is never boring

Some recent work, featuring “unloved buildings”:

Happy Father’s Day to all the inspiring men in our lives!