Weekend Warriors

Weekend Warriors II, 9x12, oil 

In an effort to keep clutter down to a minimum, I was thinking it was time to ditch these favorite pair of Birkenstocks. Because they have been such faithful and easy shoes, I thought I should do another portrait of them first. It was also a diversionary tactic to avoid working on any of my other paintings in progress too. In 2002 I painted them thinking it was time to toss them then. Forgotten by me until I just went for this photo of the first version, I called them Weekend Warriors back then too! The first version sold soon after I painted them and bought to hang in his office to remind him that the weekend was coming...

My father, 6 months before he died, bought these Birkenstocks for me while we were in Phoenix for my sisters  Master's Degree graduation. That was 37 years ago. My son was a babe in arms. When I painted the first portrait I was fairly new to oil painting and still very graphic and flat in my approach to painting. I still like the original and I am happy that they still look like the same pair of shoes if not a little more worse for wear now. They are only used for gardening or quick dog walks. They are still a very solid pair of shoes having been made with a heavy leather yet malleable enough to fit the form of my feet, horrific bunions and all. The sole was replaced in recent memory and still has many miles on them. But one of the shoes hurts the top of my foot now, which is a new development. Enough to be quite painful if I am not wearing socks. Who wants to wears socks in the summer to work in the garden? Not me, at any rate.
I had sent the new image to my family saying I was planning on tossing the shoes but how did they like the painting? Well, the uproar from them was deafening even though 2 were in Greece at the time and my sister in California. I am not, under any circumstances, to throw these shoes away. What is a little pain with such stalwart supporters of my feet? Even if I choose not to wear them they are a memento that they all were unanimous on keeping in the family.
So there you have it. I haven't tossed them yet, and I will keep them, for now. I enjoyed painting them again. The portrait will go into the next pop up show that is upcoming the First Friday of August. More on that soon.