Henning was the singer in my dad’s first band, the Saints. As a kid, he and his wife Mary would babysit me and my brother from time to time, and I have fond memories of their skittish cats and toys, their kindness and patience with us. I think they were unable to or chose not to have kids. Henning struggled for a short time with addiction when he was younger, but was able to overcome and help others, through his social work in Vancouver.
I observed the closeness my family felt with them. Henning had some health issues and after a car accident was unable to recover. I remember he called my dad to tell him he loved him, before he passed away.
We named our second child after Henning, and my dad, Henning Kenneth Love. I started painting this shortly after he was born but didn’t finish it until a few years ago.
Henning senior was also a painter, and he often depicted tigers in his dream-like scenes, with random happenings in different areas of the composition. So, here is the tiger, to represent his dreaming in the coat room at a party, to illustrate his struggles, and his paintings, his innocence and beauty as he rests, captured in the youth of this photographic image.
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