About Our Brother-in-law, Darryl

From past Blog postings, I'm sure you recall seeing Cappy's sister, Maria's family. Darryl is her husband, who is an high school Art teacher. This is Darryl, on the left next to artist George Rodrigue, of the famous "Blue Dog" painting series at the New Orleans Museum of Art last month. It was an exciting experience for Darryl, but we weren't surprised because we know our brother-in-law 'gets around'. We are so proud of him. He's a true gentleman in every sense of the word, which is rare for these days and times, and he has a great sense of humor, as well. No wonder his students love him. Twice he was voted Teacher of the Year. He's got so many irons in the fire, it's hard to tell where to begin.
He and his wife, Maria, also an high school teacher, take his students to Art Gallerys and noted places of interest in Europe every Summer. Last year they went to Paris and London. This year they are traveling to Italy. (They said I should go with them. I suppose I should, but I'd miss Cappy too much, I think. Mayhaps next year when they take another group to France.)
He inspires his students to excellence and several of them have won awards. Recently, one of his students successfully competed in a commercial venture, and was awarded the commision for the drawing and coloring of new Heinz catsup labels which will be on 17 million of their pkgs.
As an artist, Darryl doesn't slack either; a couple of weeks ago he was sporting a new 'blackberry', (hand-held computer thingy for those of you, who aren't aware...geez, where you from? :-P) which he had purchased from the profits from one of his own oil paintings. I think he has a unique style, which makes me want to sit and study his work at length.
He's going to be holding Summer Art Camp this June for kids, ages 7-13, teaching them about the Modern Masters, like Jackson Pollack, Andy Warhol and the like, also a 3-D Masters Camp where they will learn about sculptors such as Calder and Nevelson; then have the kids try their hand at creating samples of each of these kinds of Art. I think I'd like to go, too!
Even though he is busy with 'other people's kids', he always has time for his own kids, Ren, who just graduated, and was Senior Prom King, and is in the throes of deciding if he's going to LSU, where he's been accepted, ("Miss") Claire, who is not only pretty, but intelligent, and young Blythe, who is an all around 'hoot'. These kids are sweet, fun, polite and brainy, just like their parents. I'd go on and on about them, but I'm afraid I've already bragged too much already...but Dang! They deserve it!
Last week or so, I went to a showing for Darryl's Art students, who were assigned to find Art in unusual places, and then take photos. This was their first experience in the world of Art, as it relates to the public. He said they were all excited, but didn't know what to expect. Darryl was interviewd on a local television station, so the kids were 'blown away' that so many people actually attended, showed genuine interest in their work, and actually purchased their pictures. It was a fast-paced evening that went far too quickly for most of the kids, I think; they seemed to be really enjoying themselves.(I probably shouldn't say this, but I had my favorites and was impressed that one particular young lady did NO editing of her photos. She said she wanted her work to be 'pure'. I think she's "going somewhere"...she has a wonderful eye for surprising the viewer. As I was studying one of her photos on display, I really liked the composition. It looked like an abstract of some sort, with very interesting colorful details. I began to wonder what 'it' was I was looking at. When I looked at her title, it became obvious...a tail-light on a moss-covered car. Moss growing on a car?? When does that ever happen? How'd she find that?? Her other works were great, as well. Nice job, Karen.)
As I'm writing this, I'm waiting for the umpteenth time for a slideshow I made of this aforementioned evening 'opening' of the students' work, to upload or download on this Blog. I've been fighting with it all week, between everything else I've been doing. It appears that it's just not going to load, so here is a link to YouTube, which did load quickly, with no sass for me. I hope you enjoy. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7J39xRuwAB0