This painting is my interpretation of a very special person. He was my mom's husband, R.G."Bucket"Lewis. My stepfather. He passed away on December 3, 2012. He worked for 50 some odd years in the oil field industry. In this painting, he is on location, working on a drilling rig. He is wearing the hard hat he wore throughout his career. Anyone who had anything to do with the oil field industry within 3 states, knew "Bucket" Lewis. To us kids of my mom, he was always referred to as "Pap". Back in the day, when my husband was alive, he worked for pap. They were a pair of troublemakers, let me tell you. "Bucket" Lewis drilled many, many wells all over the south. He stayed on location for weeks at a time, until each job was completed. Then, would move to the next location, to begin to break ground and drill for the "black gold".
At his memorial service, the reference photo for this painting was displayed, along with the hard hat, he is wearing in this painting. So when my mom wasn't looking, in the days following the service, I took a picture of the photo with my cell phone. This painting is my impression. The painting is 18x24 Oil on Stretched Canvas. I debated over a name for this painting..."American Worker"..."American Pride"..."Working Pride"...But in the end, my mom actually named this painting, "An Oilfield Legend". I believe the name fits beautifully. He took care of my mom like no other man could ever do. He was a Legend in my book!