Thursday, April 12, 2012

Oprah features David Rodriguez Painting & I have the Orginal

Oprah's daily show is over, but it seems to put more anticipation on the rare interviews she does make. I recently heard David Rodriguez, a painter I've known for almost 2 decades, is featured on Oprah's Next Chapter tv show this Sunday. I met up with David a couple of weeks ago while he was in So Cal working with Saddleback. I drive so far east in Lake Forest that it feels like I passed the boarder for Arizona. The mid-week evening trip is worth it for a friend who, as David recalls, "Can't remember exactly where our friendship started, and that's a really cool thing."
At some point David and his wife Nicki lived a street over from me in Sachse, Texas. Those were golden days. We recall stories, one of which, is when someone tried to break into my house. Periodically over the following months, I awake scared in the night, run across the street, through the alley, and tap on David and Nicki's door. No matter how late in the night, they gladly open the door and let me crash on their couch. Who does that? We laugh.
Back in the day, we met at a bar on Sunday Mornings, called the Regal Beagle. David's wife Nicki along with Rene Anderson cook up a huge hot breakfast. We sit at table tops around the polished bar. Rene's husband Dave Anderson, with his long hair, bare feet, and calm philphilosophical voice shares a
message of grace and acceptance through Christ, while we eat, and off to the side, David Rodriguez paints. It's a lot of Daves to keep track, but somewhere between our last sip of coffee and biscuit, Dave Anderson turns around to see the graphic and emotional illustration that David Rodriguez has just created.
Rodriguez grew up in New York before moving to Dallas. He has a deconstructed comic book meets Salvador Dali style that pierces as it evokes. Rodriguez is a pioneer in the art of Live Illustration, and now travels the country Speed Painting. His latest painting for TD Jakes, at the Potters House, is featured on Oprah's Next Chapter tv show this weekend.
I told David I still have several of his paintings, and one is hanging in my house. I described the pastel blues, suited men concerned only with business, and the one in the middle who has found something better inwhich to surrender. He tells me this painting is called, "God's Time" and is one of his most requested live paintings. We pause, and then he deduces that I must have the original. It warms my heart to have been apart of that time. I treasure his painting, but more so, the life long friendship that the miles and time can not take away.

Learn more about David Rodriguez Speed Paintings at drgorilla.com.