Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for January 31, 2018

Well …………… let’s just say ………………….. a more widely dispersed audience.

As Robin the Boy Wonder would say … Leapin’ Leonardo!

So Martin, who has been working on his landscapes as well as his portraits, decides to launch his art in an unusual manner, favoring broad exposure. Perhaps one of his pieces will land in the arms (yard) of an influential collector.

The sky’s the limit.

the debut will go off with a bang.

When Martin was young, he was a go-getter…

He got his first outside sales job at 19, with Bob’s Ballard and Cherry Street Chicken, Chairs, and Cheese delivery…

“That Martin,” Bob would say, fondly….. “That Martin is a firecracker!”

Over the next 20+ years, first in outside sales, later in insurance, everywhere Martin worked… the sobriquet followed him.

In the next 20 years, however, as his job became more and more desk-bound, his energy and his enthusiasm began to dim.

He took early retirement, at 62 1/2, to pursue his dream of an artistic life…

His spirit is slowly awakening….

He paints and draws with furious abandon….

(In fact, I’m thinking he went all the way over to the “Stone Soup” strip to do that portrait of Max!)

But in middle age (OK, I  call it middle age!)

his energy won’t let him BE the firecracker…..

But he can certainly remember how it felt,

and find a way to replicate the motif!

He should just sell his art at the same price Ruthie does.

Martin needs to set fire to his works.

Even Ballard’s esteemed interior decorator, Poncy Leon, won’t hang one of Martin’s masterpieces in his current redecoration project, – the Patel No-Tell Motel !

We had one of his artistic renderings at the Tiki, hanging in the men’s room, but had to remove it, because it didn’t go with the flow.

I suspect that the little lady approves.

It’s been tough lately maneuvering around all the stacked paintings.

And don’t get her started about the tube of Cadmium Red that she stepped on, on the nice Turquoise rug in the living room.

Good morning Mudd.

My queue loaded this morning!

Woo Hoo!

I suppose that’s one way to make your art known to the world.

“Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Calvin?”

That picture looks like the littlest kid in “Stone Soup.”

We now know that Martin IS NOT Madame Deuxcolouer in mufti.

When Martin says his art really took off, this is the context.