Dad's Fender

Study for Elegant, Refurbished Maker of Music, 4" x 4", Watersoluble Graphite on Arches, © 2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

I completed the study above for the painting below at the end of June as one of my Coffee Hour Drawings. The painting was given to my dad for a very belated Father's Day gift last weekend. My dad is an avid guitar player, was in a band in college, and now plays for several hours each night. He plays both acoustic and electric -- Beatles, Steely Dan among others. The guitar featured in the sketch was his '65 Fender Stratacaster which was damaged in a fire during the '70s. As a kid my dad played nightly and my sister and I used to sit in the guitar case while listening to Yellow Submarine. As we got older, he gave up the guitar for awhile. At some point he regained interest, took out the Fender and found someone to restore it. He's played it ever since until recently selling it. You can see it at Guitar Villa online though it was recently sold.

Elegant, Refurbished Maker of Music, Oil on Panel, 8" x 8", © 2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

He was intending to replace the '65 Strat with a newer model, but I think that's on hold for the moment. So I gave him the finished painting on Saturday and he was enamored; saying that now he wished he hadn't sold it. The other remark was "where is the rest of the guitar"! Maybe he'll get bits and pieces in the future.