Posted by Lisa Engel
In Reply to: James Sessions
Here's a Sessions story for you.
When my father was about 12 years old (he was born in 1925), he mowed a yard of a family in southern Michigan. After mowing, the owner would invite him in for cookies and milk. It was there that my father would admire a water color painting of ships in a harbor. My father loved art and loved that painting especially. Now, forward to approximately the year 1979. There is an auction at the old folks home where my father had once mowed grass. My dad couldn't leave his one-man barbering business to go to the auction so he sent a friend/customer to go in his stead. My dad didn't know if the picture still existed but described it to his friend and told him not to spend more than $20 if it was up for bid. A few hours later the man came back and said, "I had to pay $25 but I hope this is the one". He turned the picture around for my dad to see and sure enough it was the same picture he'd remembered so fondly as a child. After taking the picture home, my dad took the frame apart to find Mr. Sessions signiture painted with water colors on the back. My dad was a wonderful artist but the story behind this painting makes it as valuble to us as the things he himself painted and carved. We have no idea what this original painting might be worth but to us it's worth a million...and when we look at it we imagine a sweaty 12 year-old wishing he could paint that well someday.