If you’re ever in or near Houston, take the time to drive a
few miles east to the little suburb called Baytown. At 308 W Texas Street there is a small storefront gallery, the
Portrait of a Hero Memorial Art Gallery.
The resident artist, Ken “the dauber” Pridgeon, will likely be on hand
to greet you as you enter. According to
his chroniclers, he paints on he premises about 14-hours-a day, 7-days-a-week.
Give yourself a few hours inside the gallery, because once
you enter, you’re immersed in the paintings that line the walls. They represent many of the over 500 fallen
Texas heroes of the Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars. And the portraits are not only good depictions of their subjects;
they are so lifelike that you might swear they are looking back at you.
I could write the entire column about the work Mr. Pridgeon
does—he doesn’t refer to it as work, but rather as “…doing exactly what I want
to do every day.” However, there is a video that was sent to me about the
gallery and it is available to all on YouTube.
If you are one of those who doesn’t view YouTube videos, be
heartened by the fact that this is merely a copy of the segment that was
broadcast on Texas Country Reporter, so it is not anything that will spam you
or otherwise do harm.
The video does a much better job of telling the story than I
could, so I will sign off with only this link to it and let you view Portrait
of a Warrior.
