One of a Kind

I hope you're happy you old curmudgeon. 

This man, Virgil Mantle, has been my friend for, as he puts it, decades.  He was perhaps my best client and supporter. Although there was a time when I thought I may have killed him.  Normally the most patient man on the face of the earth, I drove him into an anxiety attack and I thought sure he was going to go into heart failure and die.  It was all because of a silly little incident where I may have spent a wee bit too much time chatting it up with a model friend of mine.  Certainly, I hadn't completely ignored him or his job, except for maybe the better part of an hour. I think maybe he needed a dose of prunes or something, because it was certainly not like him to react like that.  One thing for sure, I never ever took him for granted again.

In this image, he was the first to volunteer to allow me practice time with my new desire to become a portraitist. 

Now there have been a few people who have quietly pointed out that his eyes are closed.  Very observant. But this image, "Mr. Cute and Happy" as we call it, portrays him as he is, a very gentle man and a man who is comfortable enough with himself to let me display him in this moment of calm. His silvery hair and beard are always perfectly coiffed without looking obsessively cared for. He turned 71 or was it 72, and we'll be doing our annual vegetarian lunch soon. Now don't get the wrong idea.  We'll have steak or ribs or some fanciful hunk of meat but we will also have a couple of very dry Martinis with lots of vegetables, usually called olives.

I'm a bit embarrassed that I had to be reminded that after all these years, that I had neglected to include him in my blog.  Never let it be said that I'm the curmudgeon here. To you Mr. Mantle, you deserve your moment.  And I for one will not take part in the life's end celebration that you desire.