Don’s Father, Pap Aikins

Don’s father affectionately known in the family as “Pap-boy”. His portrait places him at the island cottage on Eel’s Lake, renamed by the family as “Pig Island,” with no good reason given. Pap-boy may have been in his later years, but one can see by his vigorous pose of cleaning up the brush and collecting kiddling that he has direction and purpose in his life. The simplicity and softness of the brushstrokes set a tone of calm clarity, but one can see that the details of the composition are definitely in Pap-boy’s portrait-style face.