Mark, the Redneck Deer

I painted Mark, the Redneck Deer to atone for offending Mark the redneck deer hunter. It happened like this:

My daughter’s boss invited us to visit her church. This is a fairly common thing in Deepswamp, Georgia and everyone involved knows it is a friendly gesture. We followed her and her husband Mark’s pickup to the church and on the way we saw another truck pulling a trailer with a deer stand.

I told my daughter about a painting I had seen of a deerstand looming out of the swamp fog like a pagan altar. We laughed. Suddenly Mark’s truck veered onto the shoulder kicking up grass and sand and then recovered.

After church I asked what had happened. “He had his eye on the deerstand,” his wife answered. “Only in the south…,” I said shaking my head.

Later, I learned that Mark was offended. “What did she mean by that?” he wanted to know. “She means you’re a redneck,” his wife told him. I do not like offending people. Had my Yankee insensitivity crossed the magnolia boundary yet again?

So I painted this handsome deer and named it Mark. I showed his wife and told her to extend my apologies to her husband. She loved it. I explained that I love rednecks because I have never had car trouble that some nice redneck didn’t stop and help.

His wife seemed to think that Mark should just face the truth, which will set him free. 🙂