Art Boy By Jim Satterwhite

Posted by Jim Satterwhite | Feb 24, 2020 | FRIENDLEE PLACE HOME, NEWS | 0 |

Art Boy By Jim Satterwhite

Evan Medina has the crowd mesmerized as he tells of his fledgling career as an artist.
Image by Dennis Wayne Strickland with post-production by Jim Satterwhite.

Evan Medina is ten years old, homeschooled, and is already a commissioned artist selling his work. Greenville entertainer, Dennis Wayne Strickland, told the crowd at the Hump Day Happy Hour last week, “that he was driving to lunch and saw this child dancing on the sidewalk”. Dennis investigated and saw that Evan was trying to sell his artwork on the street to those passing by. Dennis invited the young artist to exhibit his work at the Texan VIP Room.

The youngster enthralled the crowd with his knowledge of art and technique such as splatter and pour painting. Evan pours bright colors on canvass squares and places another underneath to catch the dripping paints. Sometimes he glues broken mirror pieces to the painting. His father, Gabe Medina, tutored him with painting. His mother, step-mother, and others using the Maker Space Shop encouraged him as well. Evan has been painting works of art for a little over two years.

One of the guests at the VIP Room asks the young artist how much he wanted for the beautiful pour painting resembling a bird. Evan replied, “Ten Dollars”! Another said, “I will give you fifteen”. The next thing you know an auction ensued. Evan walked away with forty dollars after all was said and done.

About The Author

Jim Satterwhite

Boxcar Jim Satterwhite I was not always known as Boxcar Jim (who would have imagined) but earned the name at a railroad trade show in Chicago in 1988. I left Greenville in 1968 for an Air Force career that spanned twenty years. I had just retired in 1988 and started my company, Coastline Rail. I joined with an associate, John Licht. We acquired a fleet of used gondola cars and sold them to Steel Processing. The company would later be known as Progress Rail and merge with Caterpillar to be a major player in the railroad scrap business. John and I walked into the hospitality suite in the penthouse of the Chicago Hilton in September and the owner of the company announced “Boxcar Jim”. I lived with that name for the last 31-years. My lovely bride, Nancy, and I lived in Hendersonville, Tennessee. We met all of the Grand Old Opry stars. Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, the Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Orbison, Dottie West and many others. Eventually, I was recruited by another company specializing in railroad equipment and moved to Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina in 1995. Nancy and I moved back home to Greenville in 2001 where I continued to run Coastline Rail. About that time, I met Friendlee at a little place called Clyde’s Shoe Repair. Our friendship has gone on for eighteen years. I became a writer for Hunt County News. Friendlee and other investors purchased the company and it became Friendlee News. We now have YouTube TV shows, a live production every Wednesday from the Texan Theater and now a streaming radio station known as Friendlee Radio. Texans, Legends and Outlaws! I look forward to bringing you “The Good News”.