Growing up on a farm in northern California, driving a tractor before driving a car I dedicate this painting to my father. Sitting on his lap on the tractor to have family time from the time I was five years old till I thought it was not cool about 14, are some of the best memories of my life. My father died the summer of my 16th birthday, and it was the hardest year of my life. Fathers give us wings and teach us to fly, only clipping those wings when we fly to far or too fast.