The above painting was commissioned by a writer. He had seen a painting of a baseball I had created for a friend of his last year. The painting above that painting is the baseball painting. The machine is a 1933 Burroughs Electric Carriage I borrowed from the writer's extensive typewriter collection. I chose this one to paint because of its blocky shape. Now, as I see them together, I think about the natural combination of these two vintage icons. How well they go together and not just because of the delightful geometric juxtaposition. One plays and the other tells the story. In 1933 the great sportswriter Ring Lardner died. He wrote his last baseball story that year titled Lose With a Smile. It's the story of a Brooklyn Dodgers rookie who writes letters to his girl. Did Ring type it on a Burroughs? I don't know but it's likely that some sportswriter wrote about Babe Ruth or Carl Hubbell on one of these things. It's this kind of wondering that creates a sense of longing in me for those good old days that I never even experienced. But I've imagined them. And like the blank page in the typewriter, the imagination is full of possibilities.
