Joshua and James Wedzin with some of their art. James says watching his son work is influencing his own art. (Curtis Mandeville/CBC).

A lovely story about a child following his own artistic path in the wake of his father’s.

When nine-year-old Joshua Wedzin of Behchoko, N.W.T., isn’t watching TV, playing with his brother or at school, he is at work in his artist father’s studio, painting the stars.

His father, James Wedzin, is a well known Tlicho artist who taught himself and then trained at art school in Victoria. He draws inspiration from the landscape around Behchoko.

James said his son began watching him create artwork a few years ago. James said he would get up at 4 a.m. and head over to his studio to work on a carving or painting, and an hour later his son would get himself out of bed just to watch him work.

Joshua recalls being mesmerized by his father’s artwork.

“His painting was beautiful was [what I thought] when I first seen them,” he said.

James, 43, had been teaching others before deciding to take a break. That gave him the opportunity to teach his son.

“So this one day I asked him ‘would you like to paint?’ First he says ‘I just want to watch first.’ And then I painted and talked with him… I didn’t bug him to paint at the time… and then finally one day he came in and says ‘I want to paint northern lights.'”

The full story, and more pictures of these two extraordinary artists is here.