Hal Lasko is 98 years old. And while age brings experience and wisdom, even he was caught off guard by the propitious events of this past week.
Lasko, who is partially blind, has become a master of Microsoft's Paint program, which he uses to construct pixelated yet beautiful landscapes and portraits. His big week started Sunday during the Super Bowl, when Lasko and his art appeared in a memorable Microsoft advertisement. The very next day, an art gallery hosted an exhibit featuring 25 of Lasko's pieces — his first-ever solo gallery.
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"I had a good week, excellent week," Lasko told Mashable. "A most-surprising week."
While he's been an artist for most of his life, Lasko said he isn't accustomed to the large amount of publicity his work has recently attracted. For most of his career, Lasko worked as a letterer — designing typefaces — for commercial art companies. He enjoyed painting, but just as a hobby. Lasko estimated that he finished around two paintings a year at the time.
Eventually, the artist began to develop an eye disease called wet macular degeneration, which causes vision to become blurred when looking straight ahead. The only way Lasko can see something is to look from the side. The condition negatively impacted Lasko's painting — that is, until he discovered not-so-new technology in 2000.
"On my 85th birthday, the family presented me with my computer," Lasko said. "I didn't even know how to turn one on."
After figuring that out, his family showed him Paint, basic art software that comes with every version of Windows. Although Lasko knows there are more advanced programs out there — "the layered stuff" as he referred to them — he prefers the familiarity of Paint.

Image: Hal Lasko
"I'm sure that you can probably do more things quickly," he said. "[With Paint, I can] get the effects I want by just being patient and just working things out like I did with the brush. In fact, I like what I do now."
And he's not the only one. In July, Lasko's grandson Ryan Lasko launched a website to sell his grandfather's work.
"When we first put the prints up for sale, we weren't sure what to expect, but the response has been overwhelming," Ryan told Mashable. "We are now running a mom-and-pop store, literally."
The younger Lasko said his mother and father field orders, pick up the prints, package them and ship them out. He wouldn't comment on exactly how many they've sold or how much they earn, but said sales have been "steady" over the past seven months, with a spike during the holidays.
Starting this week through the end of March, 25 of Lasko's pixel paintings will be on display at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning gallery. What's more, Microsoft, the company whose software enabled Lasko to continue his artistic career, featured his work in its Super Bowl commercial.

Lasko said he draws inspiration from impressionism, and that his artistic influences include Edward Hopper and Paul Klee. Many of Lasko's paintings feature trees, but none of them are perhaps as impressive as his family tree.
Lasko has one son, two daughters, 10 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. He lives in Rocky River, Ohio with son Ron Lasko who served as a go-between during Mashable's interview due to Hal's hearing loss.
"I watched him work for so many years, as artists do. They work alone, and they develop their craft and their work," Ron said. "It's just really nice to see that he's being acknowledged for his efforts."
The following gallery features some of Lasko's work. To hear more about Lasko's story in his own words, check out the video, below:

The Pixel Painter from The Pixel Painter on Vimeo.
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