1979
Diving Key West
In
April my brother and I went with my friend Craig and his then girlfriend
to Key west for several days where we went out diving to Sand Key which
is about a thirty minute boat ride out from Key West. The conditions
were not all that good with a 10-15 miles per hour wind blowing and 4-5
foot waves. We anchored the boat and the leeward side of the Sand Key
making conditions a little better. Even so, we only had less than 20
foot visibility with the bottom quite stirred up from the water moving
back and forth with the waves. I did see a moray eel and a couple of
lobster. One evening we went down to the Key West dock, which is called
Mallory Square, to watch the sunset. Sunset at Mallory Square is a
daily festival in which people gather along with street performers to
watch the sun set. I took a photo of a juggler which I later made into
a painting. On the last day of the trip, Craig proposed to his
girlfriend who accepted, and they were married later that year.
And then I made the following painting.
The guy with out a shirt on the left is me.
A
few months later when I showed the painting to Craig, he thought I
painted him and his girlfriend sitting on the dock but actually it
was the couple in the photo. Craig didn't have a beard but his
girlfriend did have blond hair so I could see why he thought that.
Thirty or so years later I made a bed frame out of maple and made a
matching frame for the painting which now hangs over my bed.
Updated: 03-28-2023