Description: Over the years, memories and experiences have inspired much of the artwork that I have done. Some were happy, while others were not. A fond memory inspired this painting many years after the death of the subject. This is a painting of my paternal grandfather who owned the farm where my parents lived. Our house was a short distance from his and for several years,” the only water well on the “place”, as we called the farm, was at Grandpa’s house. Grandmother had died before I was born. Grandpa kept a tin box with lots of individually wrapped pieces of candy called Uncle Sam’s Kisses with which he rewarded his grandchildren for small jobs that they did such as drawing water for him or sweeping the kitchen floor. The reward was never more than one piece of candy or a single penny. One of my earliest and fondest memories of him was combing his soft white hair. It seems that he always fell asleep when anyone combed his hair. I also enjoyed hearing the stories that he told. He was born about ten years before the end of the Civil War and told exciting stories of the time when he lived in Kentucky and when he moved to Arkansas. During the last several years that he lived, he ate his meals at our house. I was intrigued by the breakfast routine that he carried out day–after-day. No matter what the menu was, he always took one cup of hot water with one teaspoon of sugar. Often it was my task to prepare the beverage for him. My siblings and I often raced to do this job, because after breakfast, he retired for a while, in the big black leather rocking chair in the corner behind the wood burning heater where he cupped his face in his hand and fell asleep. Then whoever had been the helper could get to gently comb and pat his soft white hair.