This is a very personal post. For me, Father’s Day is very sensitive and difficult as my parents got divorced during my early childhood. Therefore, Father’s Day has been a hard topic for me to talk about for a long time until recent years when we reunite with each other.
Through my childhood and teenage years, I have been feeling very lonely and sad from time to time when I see other families being together on Father’s Day. And I also remember that one day my eyes were filled with tears when I saw a father was taking photos of his child on the bridge. Why it triggers my sentiment is because my father is always my portrait artist and photographer when I was little!
The reasons that my father and I haven’t see each other for years is simple but complicated at the same time. I guess a part is due to my mother’s personality and perspectives, the other is because my father hasn’t tried enough to see me after few denials of visits by my mother. Of course, there are more issues caused by their personal life and preferences.
To me, my father is my mentor when it comes to homework, drawing and painting. He is a type of fatherly figure who doesn’t preach too much but do things with you together. He taught me how to sketch nature and paint with my heart. He also taught me how to write with inspirations and express myself truthfully.
There are so many unforgettable Memories with my father before my mum and him got divorced. Back in our hometown Shanghai, China, my father used to always bring me to his underground workshop at his factory, he is in the marketing department and the master artist there. At the workshop, We spent so much time together to explore art and experiment different ways to draw and paint. This is our magical dungeon of art!
Now I have grown to a mature woman and already built my little family, since the reunion with my father, we have been chatting about our thoughts and perspectives on life quite a lot. I found that even we have been apart for years, the father and daughter connection is always there.
There was this amazing moment when we realise that we behave the same in many ways as father and daughter. On this dining table, we both love to eat salmon sashimi and drink red wine, and we both like to wipe our mouth frequently while eating. Physically, we both have a not so great bladder. There are just so much likeness and I believe these are all in my genes.
What’s the best gifts for my and perhaps your father?!
First of all, my father is a professional artist with such great artistry in his works! He has a passion and love in animals and the wild Africa! He also owes his artistic training in classic painting such as the Renaissance, Baroque, Realism and so on. I remember that when I was little, I was astonished by the realism of an anatomy study by my father, it was a peice on study on the human skull. My father also collects books on art and animals from time to time. So the very first gift I would give to my father is always a beautiful book on art or animals.
I guess one of the greatest things I have done for my father this year is setting up social media accounts for his artworks. These helped him tremendously to showcase his talents and share his passion in art, animals and afro culture! My none social media savvy father is so excited that now he has Facebook Fan Page and Shop, as well an artist Instagram account. Your support to like and follow my father the Artist Alex Lin ‘s accounts would mean so much to my beloved father.
Sad to say that my mum and I have travelled around the cradle of art – Europe, I so wish that my dad was there with us too. But unfortunately it was impossible. I so wish that we there could be together as a family and visit the British Museum, Versailles, the hometown of Gaudi and his amazing artistry, the Romantic Road in Germany, the amazing swiss alps, the tranquil Lucerne, the passionate matador in Spain, enjoy the beautiful pizza and gelato under the foot of Pisa tower, and so much more…
My father is also a lover of red wine! When we first reunited after 20 odd years, we celebrated with a feast accompanied by my father’s favourite red wine. And since then, this wonderful companion has never ceased. Red wine along with sashimi somehow is a combination belongs to my father and I. we don’t drink white wines with our seafood. So for my father, a good bottle of red will be a gift for his dining enthusiasm. The Pepperjack Barossa Shiraz would be my pick for this year as it is fruity berry flavour and full of dark chocolate and Rich mocha notes, a very special wine for my very special father.
Photograph is also my father’s long time hobby, he has taken tons of photos of my mother and I before they got divorced. And I had a treasurous memory that once I got really upset at my dad as he asked me to pose with my eyes to look at a certain direction with the tree branch and flowers, at the end he captured one of the best portraits of me.
In the 80s, my father also used to play around with daguerreotype and work in his own created little dark room. He has created so many beautiful memories of my mum and I with great artistry. We have so many old albums full of wonderful photos of my mum and I, and also lovely photos of my father and my mum at early years of their marriage. Two of the albums are so nostalgic and unique as the photos are in black and white and processed in the dark room by my father himself.
For my father a photograph and camera lover, this year a gift of a versatile camera the Canon EOS R6 would be another option for me.
Last but not least, would be the time to spend together! Due to the pandemic since last year, we haven’t really see each other in person. I hope the situation can ease soon so that we can chat over a beautiful feast with our favorite wine and salmon sashimi, and chitchat more about our love for art, photography, and also I wish my father can share more of his thoughts for his life and shed some lights of the meaning of life to his daughter.
I also wish to tell my father that how much I love him and what are the best memories spent with him when I was a child I would always recall. Now writing to here, I hope you all have so many unforgettable memories with your father. Share with me in comment what are your best memories!
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