A small monument to my guru Harvey Pekar

I did this painting for his 70th birthday party art gallery opening. He would come to my studio in Little Italy and watch me progress on it. I was lucky enough to be able to have the old man sit down and eat a pastry (from the bakery right below the studio) while I painted him from life.

It was nice when he was relaxed and not worried about anything. Sometimes he could be flipping through the yellow pages trying to contact an insurance agent, over a fender-bender he had just got into, while trying to parallel park his car in the street. Those times could be a bit of a drag. Most of the time, he was pretty laid-back, thumbing through art history books and laughing enjoying his life...

I will pay homage to him for the rest of my life. He helped me in my journey of becoming an artist. I'm still on that journey learning more and more as the days go by... If you are not familiar with his work (American Splendor) I hope you will fetch-out some of his comics. They may inspire you as well!
I pray that his soul rests

in a spiritual hammock

that sways in

comfortable energy

back and forth

this painting

is not for sale