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CREATIVITY
Why I paint
By Alfred L. Laborde, MD
Untitled. Copyright Alfred L. Laborde, MD
I have always loved to draw. That love was probably born out and without fail, Sunday afternoons were spent carefully open-
of countless hours watching my grandfather entertain my sib- ing the thumb-size containers of oil paints. Not wanting to con-
lings and me as he drew for us on his kitchen table. These were form to the “rules” of paint by numbers, I often begged my
wonderful drawings of houses, horses, landscapes or whatever grandfather to allow me to blend colors to give the painting a
we shouted out. These drawings were in lieu of watching tele- more personal and realistic look. With the last piece I can re-
vision; they did not own one until much later. That was our member painting with my grandfather, he finally conceded de-
entertainment for the evening on the Saturday nights we would feat, and I did the painting my way. To this day, I don’t know
spend with my grandparents. These evenings were loose, care- whether it was out of frustration with my whining or out of cu-
free and without any strict rules. My grandfather was not an riosity. The end result was priceless. By no means was it a work
artist but he was an excellent craftsman who paid very close at- of art, but the look on my grandfather’s face, and without saying
tention to detail. With no formal education past the eighth a word, reflected approval.
grade, he began waiting tables at a popular downtown San An-
tonio restaurant. He eventually retired at the age of 50 as co- STRUCTURE, DISCIPLINE
owner of the establishment. With the rigors of college work, part-time jobs and medical
After passing the age when I was entertained by “horse draw- school, I did not have much time for drawing or painting. The
ings,” my grandfather began buying paint-by-number art sets, structure and discipline required to advance through various lev-
10 San Antonio Medicine • February 2015
