Elvis Has Entered the Building

We planned to have my wife's side of the family out for Christmas this year and one of the projects for the occasion was to renovate the basement - carpet was ratty and paint was smudged and ugly. So we repainted it, stripped the carpet and installed laminate flooring and new baseboards.

While this project was underway, we made our annual trip to the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) and came across a busker named Jon Hicks. He is a speed painter from Britain and in the space of about five or six minutes he paints a giant 4 X 6 foot painting of a noted celebrity. He did two for the show - one was of Freddy Mercury and the other is shown in the video below:

We asked him afterwards what he did with the paintings. He said he sells them if anyone wants them. So we bought the one he just did - a giant painting of Elvis. We rolled it up, took it home and a few weeks later we framed it. We decided it would be the focal point and centerpiece of the refinished basement. The renovation is almost completed - just minor touchups to go - and the pics below show the result:


Some time in the New Year we plan to have a party to officially launch the basement. It will be an Elvis party - everyone has to come dressed as Elvis or someone associated with Elvis or a contemporary of Elvis - preferably from the early years. We'll be playing Elvis on vinyl and may have a karaoke or lip sync contest as well. Should be fun! I'm already growing sideburns for the occasion!