Although most of Alaskan artist Vic Sparks’ work cannot be accurately dated, there are a few exceptions. These works, intended for family, correlate with family birthdays and events. They also reinforce his love of his boat, The Felix. Here are some examples:
In 1939 Vic used the Felix as the model for the cover of a scrapbook made for his son, Peter’s, 18th birthday. Peter loved to sail and had built a 16-foot sailboat in Vic’s workshop.

Peter Sparks’ 18th Birthday Scrapbook Cover featuring The Felix
I can date another painting with certainty. It shows a boat sitting beside a shed overlooking water with a mountain on the far shore. The boat is named Sheila and was painted by Vic at a family friend’s home in Bremerton, Washington when he and his wife Abbie visited Peter (my father) and mother shortly after I was born in 1947.

It was Vic’s practice to include a sketch in letters sent to my parents. Below are two. The first depicts my father building a boat with me in one arm. The second instructs him to add rockers and shows me riding in the revised boat.

“Takes Practice”

“By Gum! Could Put Rockers under it”
I have no memories of this visit but was fortunate enough to get to know him better during a visit with us in 1957. He sketched a caricature of himself in my autograph book.

Sheila’s Autograph Book
Read my upcoming blog to learn more about Vic Sparks’ love of painting the small fishing boats of Alaska’s inside passage.