David

David worked behind the counter at the tiny grocery store on the corner of 101st and Broadway during the year I lived in NYC. If I ran out of Spring water in my apartment, a couple times I wound up buying a couple of expensive gallons there, rather than walking 10 minutes to a larger grocery store. David was known to Bona, my doorman at my building, and good friend. David heard I was a watercolor artist and gave me a photograph of himself one of only two or three times I went into this tiny shop, asking if I could paint his portrait. Although I rarely painted people and had never tried painting someone with a lot of melanin (dark skin tone), yet I really needed commissioned work and a portrait was a good challenge. The portrait came out well...if I remember correctly it took me 10 hours to slowly paint. I brought the 10x14 piece down to his shop and he liked it, a lot. He offered me $100 for my time. I was willing to sell it for $200, but not $100. I told David I would think about his offer. He said, "You think now", pressuring me, and I was not going to be manipulated into selling below what I felt was a decent price. I quickly decided not to sell it to him, keeping the portrait...I believe it is inside our storage unit which was under 2-3 ft of water in a Vermont flood, so the original probably didn't survive.