The original Sketch for the Checker Taxi was made on an index card in 1993. I always have an index card or a very small sketch pad in my pocket. The composition of a painting is the most important element of a design. If I can quiclkly capture an interesting composition, then it is only a matter of time before a successful painting will emerge. This is one of my favorites.

The hotel on the right is the Island Hotel built in the mid 1800's. My grandfather drove a taxi cab in Miami Beach in the 1920's and would take the tourists on a drive around the Miami area.

Lester's Checker taxi depicted in this scene is a real taxi at Cedar Key.Th pilots who land their small planes at the Cedar Key airstrip call on the radio station #16 and get Lester's taxi to pick them.