Between the sunflowers and pretty girls there was Uncle Bill. Errol Flynn and the flim-flam man was my Uncle Bill. He served under General Patton during WWII. Wasn't married to my Aunt Kay, they just lived together with my Grandpa Matt. A lot of whispering behind closed doors after visits with Aunt Kay and Uncle Bill. A lot of promises came from him. Waited weeks for the cowboy boots he was going to send me from Arizona. He convinced my Aunt Kay and Grandpa Matt to sell their house and move to Arizona. Before leaving he sold my Dad a car for my brother to go to college.
That car became my second job before I began high school. Seems Uncle Bill forgot to mention he never had the title to that car or to any of the cars he sold.
That summer, after mowing lawns and delivering papers, my job was taking that car apart so that on Saturdays my Dad and Uncle John could haul it to the scrap yard. Dad hoped I would learn something about cars. I didn't, only that most parts are heavy, and what a flim-flam man was.
That summer, Mike Spencer, the neighborhood barber, gave me a set of oil paints, brushes, canvases and a carrying case. I managed to get some painting done each night after a fender was cut up or a car door was in small pieces. I didn't know it then but that was how it was going to be as an artist for a while - painting would come second.
Uncle Bill left my Aunt Kay and Grandpa Matt penniless in Cleveland. After more whispering behind closed doors Dad managed to get Aunt Kay and Grandpa back to Aurora, and settled in an apartment in a not so nice neighborhood. As an artist, I was the one to drop everything and care for her in her old age. Putting my brush down to cook a meal and walk her dog was part of life. Sneaking her tea set to my studio for a still-life setup, painting a nude in her kitchen. I also became a bit more creative, like finding the old stove in my place worth doing a painting of. A broken doll also made an interesting subject. I found ways to get paintings done.
