George Boolukos is the type of person that wins your heart the minute you meet him. The same description fits his wife Maria and their three children. In them, you find a variety of Saints.

A few weeks ago, I came out of a dollar store in Kingston and found a Hot Pink Cadillac, my favorite year 1959, parked with a man at the wheel and three children in the back seat. I asked him if I could take a photo of his car. He jumped out, told me to get in the driver’s seat and he would take a photo of me. George is a man with a big heart!

From those photos, I devised four paintings that are “out of the box” for me…literally since two are painted on Masonite open-backed boxes 11″ x 11″ front & 2″ wide from the wall.

I emailed photos of the paintings to George and invited him and his family to attend two art exhibitions where his “Big Pink” was featured in paintings. He arrived with her in all of her glory.

At the first show, a woman crashed her bicycle against the curb as she was studying “Big Pink” instead of the road before her. George picked her up from the grass and she was fine…perhaps she had one too many drinks at the art show. Also, Big Pink refused to start when it was time to leave and she was guzzling fuel as if there was no end to the source.

When Big Pink was ready to go, George gave me a ride in her. She roared down Main Street in Saugerties with the flair of a pink elephant. Heads turned, hands waved…I felt like a celebrity as I reached for my dark glasses…knowing all the while that Big Pink was the star of the show. I was just an artist trying to copy her and George was steering her in the right direction.

About George…his personality is generous, trusting and loving. When you meet a “saint” you know that you are safe in his or her presence. George has an artistic spirit, too. He thinks faster than I do and I love the photo compositions that he arranges. I look forward to a long and rewarding friendship with the Boolukos family. At my studio sale, they became owners of two paintings of the car (pictured here.) God does the unexpected…Big Pink started a conversation and look where that talk took us!