POST # 522
The Thoughtful Wanderer and Dora-dog
Last week, this question was posed to me by my dear friend, Ted. This is the same Ted that started me reading all the way back in 1978. I've mentioned him before on the blog.
Anyhow, he was en route to Mexico where he now lives, after visiting his daughter, son in law and grand kids in Australia. His wife Doreen, was returning to Mexico via Los Angeles, but Ted had a three hour layover in Vancouver, so we managed to have a Skype call while he was hanging out at the airport.
It was during this call that I showed him the caricature featured at the beginning of this post. His suggestion to me seemed to be a good one, and it allows me to now tell the story of how this caricature came about in the first place.
The story begins way back in December of 2020. At that time I was staying at the Hotel Patricia in East Vancouver, and on most days, I would do a long walk from the hotel, along the waterfront at Coal Harbour, then skirt the edge of Stanley Park and finish my walk down by the beach near Denman Street in the West End of Vancouver. One day, as I was approaching the end of my walk, I saw a gentleman sitting on a bench with a sign that said, "Caricatures $5.00" He happened to be drawing one when I arrived, and I was impressed with his work, so naturally I struck up a conversation with him. His name was Gerry, and I asked him if he could do a drawing of me and my favourite dog on the planet just from photos that I would supply. He said no problem at all, and that's how this drawing came into being. I think he did a great job, and the only thing that isn't Paul-like is the fact that I am wearing long pants. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am always dressed in shorts. However, this was my fault for not pointing that out to him from the start.
Once he emailed me the final result, I went to a print shop in East Vancouver, and they printed up about thirty copies. I've been handing them out ever since. Mary and Dora-dog were the first recipients, followed by my four sisters, and since then, I've been leaving a copy with all of my regular house sit clients.
I continued doing my walks back then and took a couple of more photos when I was there after he had done my caricature. Here's Gerry in action.
And of course I had to take a photo of the two of us together.
So that's the story of how this caricature came to be. I've been down to the beach where we met on many occasions since that time, but I've never seen Gerry again. I imagine, with his talent that he has moved on to bigger and better things, and if that is the case, I am very happy for him.
And thank you Ted, for suggesting this as a theme for my blog.
grateful for every breath,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
Thank you for sharing?!
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