Ken Babcock (Jan 25/33-Jul 21/01)

Ken was a late-blooming painter and only started painting in the last 5 years of his life and learned by watching Bob Ross videos on the Knowledge channel. He has his own inimitable style in technique, color and texture. As you can see, he picked up on the art quite quickly – just as he did in everything he learned.

It should be noted that his inherent creative nature showed up much earlier and all throughout his life; it started with leather-crafting and burl tables from his logging camp days. Way back when I was 10 years old he made a belt and purse for my sister and I, which I still have today. When it came to wood-working, he could and did build his own steel guitar – dobro style. He could make music out of metal pie plates that had been hammered down and wooden ironing boards that had been sanded down – all to form to right sound.

Also, he had a vinyl repair business and was highly sought after because he had a knack for mixing the precise right colour to any vinyl or leather upholstery, be it restaurant or vehicle.

With his latest creative endevour Ken painted for request, for professionals, for gifts, and for his own enjoyment, ever elaborating on his style.

My Dad and I were beginning to promote his paintings when he was stricken with his second heart attack resulting in a quad-bypass. Then, while he was getting back on his feet, he found out about the prostrate cancer just 2 years before he died. He never let those things deter him from his love for his new found art or his life long love for his steel guitars, building them, and their music.

He’s much-loved and he’s around us all the time. I am proud, as his daughter, to have inherited his spark of creativity and sense of insight into real life, along with what we had started together for him; his desire to share his great works. Here are some of his paintings that show the diversity of his style.