High Maintenance Man

This is a portrait of my good friend and fellow artist “Carolina Bob,” who is the best storyteller I’ve ever met. For many years, Bob and I did an art fair in Oklahoma City, and we would meet for dinner at the Cattlemen’s Steak House. The restaurant has dozens of sketches of celebrities on the walls, and our waiter jokingly said that if we had such a drawing of Carolina Bob, he would add it to the wall. Originally, the drawing was supposed to be a quick sketch, but when I saw the selfie that Bob sent me, I decided to surprise Bob with a more whimsical drawing. In “High Maintenance Man,” the members of my family are helping to groom Bob for his place of honor on the wall of Cattleman’s Steak House. (And, for a week, this drawing of Bob did hang above a sketch of John Wayne on the wall of Cattleman’s!)