Growing Up...With This Amazing Art

 While doing a little surfing tonight, I came across some artwork of Robert McCall. There's a good chance you've also seen his artwork, but if you're of a certain age, you've definitely seen it. He created the mind-blowing art for the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

I loved those posters.

At the time I was a little young and not the target audience for the film. Back then, you couldn't just fire-up your laptop/tablet/phone and watch not only clips of the movie, but the entire film itself. No, if you missed it in the theater or on TV (and some shows were never broadcast on the Big 3 networks...), you didn't get to see it. I think I finally saw the film for the first time in my twenties, some twenty-odd years after the movie was released, and some ten-odd years before the year 2001 actually arrived.

Back when this artwork was available, late 1960s, early 1970s, I was young, but it was also the time when real spaceships and astronauts floated weightless above our heads in space. To a child, seeing the double-wheeled space station and a jet-like spaceship (complete with PanAm logo...) seemed not only probable, but definitely possible.

Too bad things didn't quite turn out like that.

The art was to draw people to the movie, but for me, it took me far beyond a single film. It unlocked the possibility of imagination...effective art, indeed.

Give Thanks...Our Son's Wedding Anniversary Present To Us

When our artist son told us he made a work of art for my wife and my 30th wedding anniversary, he showed us the finished product on a screen. He ordered a print and it arrived last week. On the computer, we were able to zoom in and notice the incredible detail to the painting. Seeing the finished product, brought our appreciation to a whole new level.

I posted a picture of the artwork on social media and told people if they zoomed in, it would blow them away as it did us. I was right--so many people commented on just how awesome it was. Here are some facts about the art:

Each circle represents a member of our family. Six circles - six people. All the circles are connected by two wedding rings. My circle is right of the rings (looking at the picture), my wife's is left. Moving left to right, my daughter's circle is top left, the creator's circle is next. Below left is our oldest child's circle, followed our youngest son's circle.

What my artist son did was fill each circle with items unique to each person. For example, in my circle, there's a Danish flag, a sunset (not a pokeball...) because I love taking pictures of sunsets. There's also a "U" because it's my favorite sports team. There's also ice cream cones because, well...I love ice cream.

The artist son put into his circle many skulls--his online presents is "Skeleton Gadget."

My daughter's circle has a pair of ballroom dancers and an exploding salsa bottle.

The circles are full of so many things, it would take me all day to list them all. It's such an amazing personal gift, we were all overwhelmed at the love found in his artwork.

For our 30th anniversary, my wife and I went out to eat at a local restaurant...no big trips, no huge gifts. But, I'd take the present from my son over any trip or gift we could have given each other...it's simply stunning. Thank you, son. It's perfect.