A speedpainting I sketched on the night of my grandfather's passing...and finished painting this morning at nearly 2 AM...

On March 16th, 2012, I heard over the police scanner that an ambulance had been called for someone unconcious...and my grandfather's address followed after that.

My father took off so fast he didn't even bother to turn off the weed-whacker he'd been using to rush off to his father's home...Grandpa had slipped into sleep at 6:30 PM Friday night...and will never wake up.

The last two years had been very difficult and trying on him. He has been fighting lung cancer, and lost his fight Friday night. Though for the last 52 years, he has been going to the doctor every other week to treat electrical burns that never healed fully. He lost his leg to an electrocutional accident all those years ago, and it gave him trouble even so many years after the accident.

He was a veteran, had faught for his country. His prosthetic leg is being donated to Wounded Warriors so that another Veteran who otherwise couldnt' afford a prosthetic will be given the gift of being able to walk again.

I am only glad..that he isn't suffering any more. That his passing hadn't been violent, that he hadn't been scared and fighting it...that it had been peacefull for him.

My dad isn't taking this well, and its not expected of him to take it well. I never saw my father cry...until he came home from taking Grandpa to the funeral home. He was really close to his Pop...and is completely devistated for the loss of his father, his idol, his hero.

Grandpa was 73 years old.

Good bye, Grandpa. You may have passed on...but you will forever have a special place in my heart. I love you, your family loves you, and we will never, ever forget you.

((The first time I have ever tried to paint a human realistically...I just wish the push to try this wasn't so grim and depressing...))