Down to a half jar of bread & butter pickles and thinking I had better get ready to call home for food money… Decided to give it one more day before I would give in and make the request. I dressed and walked the eight miles to the gallery. I could have taken the subway but these walks were a way to see new parts of Manhattan . Sketchbook in hand, I set out to see what 9th Ave. had to show me. I picked up an apple on the way; there were lots of little grocery stores in New York. With quick sketches of the grocers, these little trips often took me all day to complete. I spent a day just drawing the shoe shine guy and a few of his customers once. Mr. Pop, my old scout leader, had prepared me for these long walks, he believed in hiking. in 95 degrees Mr. Pop had us boys hiking 10 miles to a campsite.
A couple sketches of homeless men in a small park below 14th Street, and some mothers with their kids, then I began working my way to East Village. More long haired hippies were signs of getting close to the gallery. Tourist was a sure sign of being close to it. With fingers crossed, I walked into the gallery hoping there was a check waiting for me. No check but there was a lady there interested in commissioning me to do a portrait of a dog.
Acting like I did portraits of dogs all the time, I nodded and smiled as she told me about her dad and this dog I was going to do a portrait of. My mind was actually picturing the slice of pizza I'd buy with the money this commission would get me. No more pickle sandwiches. I set up a time for her to come to the studio. The walk back was sketchless. I was walking with purpose and thinking about the commission. I had never done a painting of a dog before. How hard could it be? This portrait was really important to this lady. The dog was a stray that joined her dad every morning on his walk.
The next day I got the full story. Her dad had a very stressful job on Madison Ave. and suffered a heart attack. His doctor prescribed moving to the country and trying to relax. Bored with country life, he began to take walks and that's when this stray dog began accompanying him. After several walks the dog took to sleeping on the porch - and her dad began to relax and looking forward to these walks. Instead of returning to his stressful job, he retired to the country. He and his new friend explored the country and the nearby town where they’d split a sandwich. For 10 years, they were a team. They died within days of each other. Boy did that story put the pressure on me.
A small picture of a black Labrador lying on a blue pillow on their back porch was what I had to work from. My work was cut out for me. The money and the pizza was gone from my head. I wanted to do the best I could to please this lady. I set about sketching dogs in Central Park, no black Labs around but I was getting an idea of how dogs were built and looked laying down. When I found my model his owner wasn't sure about me sketching him. Finally, at the boat pond, he sat down and let me sketch his dog. With two detailed drawings and a small photo I set about painting my first dog commission.
I finished with the painting and nervously called the lady to come collect it. Not prepared for her reaction, I was speechless when she began to tear up. That was the first time I realized I was creating more than a painting. The following still-life that I did next I thought about differently. I thought about what this simple painting might mean to the person buying it. From then on I put my whole self into every painting and I also began looking at others' art a bit differently.
