LUCERNE ? Artist Ron Keas loves his wife Donna. He says there”s no other person he”d rather spend time with, but he”s trying to get the attention of another woman. He”s painted Oprah Winfrey and he would like to meet her. She”s not the first woman he”s obsessed over; there was Diana and Marilyn too, but that was different because they were dead.
“I”m a lot like DaVinci, Rembrandt, Thomas Edison and Walt Disney,” he said. He”s painted everyone from “Elvis to Oprah.” He”s a professional photographer, artist and an avid inventor.
“You know, I do impressions too,” he says in a Jimmy Stewart voice.
Donna says “he”s a good person with a gentle soul. He believes in truth and honesty; that”s why we get along so well.”
This man of small stature paints on a large scale. Recently his work occupied the prime real estate on the front page of the Sunday New York Times. Keas, inspired by Barack Obama, created 20 paintings of the President.
Following the Presidential paintings, he envisioned Winfrey with wings over the city of Chicago, looking proud, because he said “she has a lot to be proud of.”
Keas was unaware that in 1997 the Oprah Angel Network was established. It was created to encourage people around the world to make a difference in the lives of others. Winfrey”s vision is to inspire people to help others rise to their potential.
Keas knows about hardship. He grew up poor. He was born in Salinas. His family moved there from Oklahoma. They were typical of the folks Steinbeck wrote about.
“I had an interesting childhood living in a small trailer with my brother and grandmother during grades one to six. My grandfather was alive and also living with us. He had lost both legs to Berger”s disease. Beginning in the second grade, I came home everyday from school and cooked his meal on an electric hot plate. My grandfather was a well-known local character in Salinas. Our trailer park was a block away from bar-lined Market Street. He pushed himself to the bars on a small wooden cart, pushing himself down the sidewalk with wooden blocks. I remember my grandmother telling me that he had played cards with John Steinbeck in those bars. My mother was a waitress and at age 7, I shined shoes. One time I strolled into a bar where my grandfather was drinking and the customers said, “Hey everybody, this is Don Riggs”s grandson, and everyone began tossing coins at my feet. I scooped up all the coins and put them in my pockets. It was the most money I had ever had at one time. I remember thinking that these men must really like my grandfather. I bought a Nehi grape soda, and listened to Lefty Frizzel on the jukebox, while I jingled the change in my pocket,” he said.
He”s a man of a million stories.
He”s a man of humble desires. He wants to donate the portrait to the Angel Network.
“It would be nice to get a note or a phone call. She”s welcome to come over anytime she wants,” he says about Winfrey and smiles.
To learn more about Ron Keas go to www.3dviewmax.com or call 274-8786.
Mandy Feder can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or call 263-5636 ext.32
