My painting of Kelly, "Kelly on Fillmore," completed in 2013

Kelly on Fillmore

We said goodbye to Kelly in May 2018. But he did not fade away, and he left us with more to come...

Kelly was a dear friend to me during the decade I resided in San Francisco. On a street of strangers, he became my first friend in the neighborhood. 

When I wanted to feel  welcome, experience authentic and interesting dialogue, I would head down to the corner of Fillmore & Sacramento, that was where Kelly could be found.  

When I rented my first art studio in the Mission in 2012,  Kelly agreed to pose for me. The landscape of this painting is synonymous with the 49 years of his vibrant presence there.