Red Grapes and Silver Creamer

by David R. Darrow 9" x 6" (22.86cm x 15.24cm)
Oil on Panel SOLD Collection of Jolie Elman
Glendora, CA – USA

About This Painting

Thursday I stopped by a small antique store on State Street in Carlsbad, looking for something.

I don't know what. Just something.

Actually, what drew me in was the fellow's large bookshelves visible from the street. Whenever I see shelves like that from a distance, I can picture in my mind several titles of long-out-of-print art books that I would love to find at a bargain: Anything written by illustrator Andrew Loomis, either of the books I am aware of about Nicolai Fechin, or the 70's book on JC Leyendecker, or the huge volume on Dean Cornwell, and anything by Richard Schmid, to name a few.

Finding nothing inside that caught my eye, I wandered to the gentleman's back terrace where "outdoor antiques and such" were on display.

There, sitting on something I don't even remember, but which set it up at waist level as I walked out, was this silver creamer, mildly tarnished, with a dent on it's right as you face the back of the handle.

I knew it would polish up wonderfully — certainly enough for a painting.

As I went to make my purchase the owner said with surprise, "So you're the one to buy that!"

I told him it was nice enough to put in one of my paintings, and then asked why it was marked so low? He told me, as he walked me over to see a whole silver tea service, that someone had dropped it, dented it, and he couldn't sell it with the set.

It had happened that very day. In fact, moments before I walked in he had just set it outside with the $1.00 price tag on it.

Some things just have to be painted.

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