She said, “What do you not do? You write, you sing, you play instruments and you even build instruments. Do you paint?”
I grinned and said, “Oh, yes ma’am, I sure do paint.”
Then she asked, “When did first begin painting?”
I replied, “I can’t say for certain, but I think the first painting I ever did was when I was about 9 or 10 years old.”
She was amazed and said, “That’s so young.”
When she asked, “What mediums?” I must have looked a bit puzzled, so she said, “You know, acrylics, oils, watercolors, pastels?”
I chuckled slightly and said, “Oh, my first painting was a watercolor.” I failed to tell her it was a paint-by-number kit. She still had not realized I was teasing.
With a slightly puzzled look, she cocked her head to one side as she squinted and asked, “Do you paint mostly still life, landscapes or portraits?”
The gig was finally up when I said, “Well, actually, right now I’m in the middle of painting my back porch and deck, but I have painted my entire house!”
A young man was out of work and therefore out of money. He knocked on several doors and asked the owners if they needed anything painted.
One man said, “Why yes, I’ll pay you $300 to go out back and paint my porch. There is a gallon of paint and a brush already back there.”
A couple of hours later, he knocked on the door and said, “I’m all finished, but sir, that is not a Porsche. I believe that is a Ferrari!”
I have doubts about the reality of the last story, and I may have used a little writer’s license on parts of the first one. That being said, I really am a painter. That first paint-by-number painting was supposed to be a horse, but it looked more like a purple elephant when I finished. That’s about as close to any real artistic painting as I’ve ever come. I never painted a Porsche or a Ferrari, but I have painted quite a few vehicles. I did not use a brush to paint any of them. As a teenager, I worked for my oldest brother in his automobile paint-and-body shop. I learned to spray paint at the ripe old age of 14. I can say that I have painted with acrylics…acrylic enamel car paint, that is!
I have done my share of painting with a brush and roller, but never on a car. When I was a broke college student, I worked part time at a nearby high school. We cleaned, did maintenance and painted. Twice each year, we painted the entire interior of the school. We covered up all the graffiti in all the bathrooms, so the students would have a clean place to do their artwork! I’ve done odd paint jobs since then, and I’ve done all the painting on my own houses. I have just finished repainting my back porch (not to be confused with Porsche) and deck. If you ask me if I have a large porch and deck, I would have answered, “No, not really.” Now that I’ve finished painting it, I would answer, “I sure do!”
A fresh coat of paint on most things really does work wonders. It may not make something look brand new, but it can cover up a multitude of ugly. With all the years and miles I have on me now, not to mention a few health issues along the way, I wonder if a fresh coat of paint might help me some! Still, I am thankful for this old house I’m living in!
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
