Monday, June 16, 2014

My Dad

I meant to post this yesterday, but here's a charcoal portrait I did of my father, Robert Gurney, back in 1978 when I was 20.

Robert Gurney (1923-2001) was a mechanical engineer who worked on early communication satellites and helped with research and development for Cal Tech, Stanford Linear Accelerator, and JPL. In his spare time he welded metal sculptures of wild birds, constructed radio controlled model airplanes, and did voice recordings for the blind. He was a devoted dad of five kids, and always encouraged me in my drawing and building projects.
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4 comments:

  1. Tom HartJune 16, 2014 at 9:03 AM

    Thanks for sharing the sketch and the brief bio,James. He sounds like quite a man and father. You justly take pride in him, as I'm sure he did in you.

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  2. krystalJune 16, 2014 at 4:23 PM

    Damn..that's bad@$$! I'm learning welding right now (I LOVE ITTTT!!! Last week we did welding art and this guy made a gun and the other made a chopper with metal) and I'm so impressed by your dad!
    My grandad was an engineer(petro-chemical) and he was forever inventing from scraps he had hoarded of metal, gears, etc; he was definitely what I consider to be an 'artist' in that way. He passed a few years ago, sadly. Hope you had a great Father's Day!!!

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  3. Vladimir VenkovJune 17, 2014 at 6:27 AM

    Beautiful sketch and interesting info about your father James. These two thinks always go really well together.

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  4. contactforhelpJune 19, 2014 at 4:46 AM

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