First, Foremost, and Finally

Drive drive drive until we get to Ken’s house no his studio its the one next door here is that it yes I believe it is. He built this place himself you know worked construction two three years maybe more until the guy said sorry buddy work’s drying up but the skills stayed with him poured the concrete framed some walls of course he needed a hand raising those walls you can’t raise a wall on your own after all but a former student now a friend came out and another did some dry wall I mean it’s two stories over there in the main house in the entryway that’s two too many for one fellow but now the taxidermy fills the space really nicely in there. That’s a black bear in a cinnamon phase could have thought it was a grizzly for a moment but sure enough it’s a black bear and he’s got a tag for that. It was rolling hills all the way as soon as we got off the interstate I couldn’t help but imagine that big blimp gliding dumbly across until it buried its nose in the hollow. What a dumb thing to do. But I suppose it made for good television and it brought me out here ten years late but the story is still good. You never know where things are going to take you Ken never imagined he’d be in the White House but sure enough Barbara Bush put his painting on the wall and he brought a knife in with him I think he gifted it to her and the Secret Service was real unhappy. Took him to Loch Ness too but he doesn’t believe that shit he taught history after all. He had a natural knack for painting ever since a teacher put chalk in his hand and said draw me something wow that’s pretty good that’s better than I can do and I’m teaching art you’ve got to stay with this Ken. Oak tree birch tree maple tree they all have different barks and he knows that he knows how to paint each one and he can make these scenes up on the spot I mean he’s seen them himself countless times he’ll find a spot while he’s out hunting or fishing or having coffee at the Dunkin’ Donuts down the road here where he meets his buddies and he’ll think I ought to paint that and sometimes he paints it just the way it is but most of the time it’s a world of his own he can put a raccoon and a black bear in the same painting if he wants to but how many times have you seen a raccoon and a black bear with your own eyes at the same time I sure haven’t seen that I rarely see two animals at once other than a squirrel and a bird but even then it’s hard to get them in my focus at the same time they’re quick like that. On the easel he’s got an eagle maybe we’ll see it on the Game News cover some day though I think they discontinued that publication but four or five guys are pretty good at this and competed for those covers. He wrote a newspaper column nature and wildlife stories did one about a woman scalped by a black bear told her you can wear the wig but she said no I want them to see what it did to me. TV too he hosted his own show on PBS or something like that it’s really grown his market and now those paintings sell for a whole lot I mean they are in the White House after all that’s pretty significant. He frames them now as soon as we are done here he’ll be downstairs cutting frames awhile back he went to the frame shop and said he wanted to start doing it himself they said sure no problem we’ll sell you the material wholesale but here’s the catch you’re going to buy a whole lot more and Ken said he wasn’t sure but sure enough he’s been buying a whole lot more now that it’s whole sale and the paintings are looking great and better yet they are flying off the walls. Back in 1972 when the flood came through he was stuck sitting on the neighbors roof with his dog he made a raft from his garage door his wife was already up on the hill but he had money in the house and guns and everything but when the water came up over the TV and it was still playing and he started feeling some tingles that’s when he grabbed the dog and the garage door and paddled on over to the neighbor who said Ken get up here and he sat on top of that roof for a few days until the water came down but now he’s on top of the world I think at least it seems that way and I’m really happy for him.