A Family Tradition (part one)

This is an article about legacy, perhaps tradition, perhaps genetics. It is about the artistic temperament that passed through three generations. I will begin with my father, Cecil Morton (1927 to 2003)

The Art of Cecil Morton

My father, Cecil Morton, wanted to be an artist. I remember watching him draw and paint pictures from my earliest memories. I remember his wrestling with assignments from the Fine Artists of America Correspondence School. I remember the pride he took in his work from a course in oil painting at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School. His artwork reflected his passions. He painted scenic landscapes, like Yellowstone falls, after a family vacation. He painted Southwestern Indians in the style of 1960's blend of abstract design and realism. Most of all he tried to illustrate. I will share more of my Father’s paintings and drawings of in future blogs.

My brother, sister and I are privileged to have several of my father's paintings. One has a preeminent place in our apartment. When I was a young boy about twelve or thirteen our family took a rare vacation. We went to the Tetons, to Yellowstone and to Salt Lake City. One painting he did, in memory of this vacation, was of Yellowstone falls. When my father painted he imagined scenes as better than they are. He captured the wonder of the falls and he did something which was a kind of trademark on his paintings at that time. He sprinkled bird seed gravel to give texture and capture light.

My father also wanted to be a Christian preacher. He had been raised in a family that was negligent in church participation. His mother sent the children to church with a Baptist woman she respected up the street. When he became a young man he studied and adopted the churches of Christ as his fellowship. His passion for New Testament Christianity never faded. He taught the Bible at any and every opportunity to the willing. He worked with men that respected him and tried to influence as many as he could to become Christians. He wanted to work as a full time preacher, yet that required an education. He loved to learn, but had always had trouble in school. He often illustrated Bible stories, and themes he loved.

Despite his fertile imagination, and his passion for creativity, my Father was also a very practical man. Providing for his wife and three children

became his primary vocation. In his practical nature, he decided that a man with a wife and three children to raise should not pursue art or preaching as a vocation. These instead became his all-consuming avocations.

Later in life, his creativity took on new forms. He began to write poetry, prose and even plays. Some were very good, and are cherished by our family to this day.

Yet his mind became foggy and he was not able to continue his art in later days. One of the last things he did was to illustrate a bulletin board at the Englewood Church of Christ with an intricate reproduction of a popular artwork of the sower.

This was the legacy my father passed on to me. I will always be grateful for his creativity, his dedication to wife and family, and his desire to share his faith. In the next blog, I will share how this legacy impacted my brother.