February 24, 2008

"Uncle Bob with beret"

I have spoken of my dear Uncle Bob in previous blog entries. Mentor, friend, patron, it was he who long ago bestowed upon me my first beret. I have worn one since I was 16. Coming to grips with looking like a cliché in my teens was tough, but my friends soon got used to it. When Bob comes to Baltimore for a visit, he, too, is wont to wear one, which makes for some sniggering and tittering among the people. For my 50th birthday, my wife bought a gross of black berets and gave them out to my friends. Seeing 80 plus people dressed in black turtle necks and berets was something else. It looked like a giant poetry slam from the 50’s or a Maynard G. Krebs convention. Very cool, daddy-o.

Uncle Bob is fighting the big C, and I am having a hard time concentrating on painting. I thought I would post a little panel I did of him back in ’93. It captures the essence of the man. You have to picture in your mind the 16-ounce Bud in his hand.

5 comments:

m collier said...

Very Nice !!

Mark Adams said...

M,
(I fell like James Bond, using the appellation.)

Praise from the praiseworthy!
Thanks!

Rhonda Hurwitz said...

love the portrait, and your reminiscence. Best wishes for his recovery.

Unknown said...

Mark,
Your Uncle Bob looks full of life and interest in something that lies ahead of him. This is such a wonderful portrait - painted with a deep love and understanding of the man it has captured. I am sorry he is so ill. The same weekend you went to see him, we went to see my father-in-law who has Parkinson's and just had a pacemaker put in. He is a shadow of his former self, with his short term memory completely gone. Five minutes after we left, he would not know we had been there. So very sad!
I am so glad that your Uncle Bob invested much in you, and believed in you so completely. I am sure he is very proud of you and your accomplishments in life.

nckitkat said...

loved the painting of Bob, and also the one of the Great Dane. haven't heard about Maynard G. Krebs in forever! found your site from your comment on my daughter's website (the golfers with the cut off heads :-)- one was my husband, the other, my son-in-law- my husband couldn't understand why his office staff laughed when he pondered whether they knew which was him and which was Windy's husband...
hope your friend Bob does well, he has a good friend in you!