Skip Granger, 1960
I have always loved art! Instead of sports equipment, which my father bought for me, I preferred art, music, scouting, magic – and later, travel and wine – not to mention the fairer sex. When asked what I wanted for Christmas, I said ”Blue Boy” and received a large gilded framed painting that hung in my room where sports posters might have been.
When I lived in Joplin as a boy, I began taking oil painting lessons with a group of older ladies whom I enjoyed so much. Also, I seemed to have a knack for it, which filled a desire to succeed. I preferred doing landscapes, seascapes and still life paintings more than portraits.
After moving to Wichita at age 12, I changed my focus a bit. For one thing, one could get a learner’s permit to drive a car at 14 years old. My guess was that many Kansas farmers did not want to get off the tractor to drive the kids to school in the morning; but most likely, they needed their kids to have licenses to drive farm trucks. Plus, I was beginning to notice the ladies more.
Still, my interest in painting continued. I painted in oil during my youth and met with some success. One of my paintings was exhibited in the Innes Tea Room waiting salon and a bidder offered $100 for it. I was elated since that was a lot of money during my junior year of high school, but my mother would not let me sell it. That snowscape (left) currently resides in our Sun Lakes, Arizona, home along with six or eight of my other paintings.
I always liked my colorful painting of sailboats (right) the most, and this other sailboat painting (below right) the least. But, after all, art is in the eye of the beholder.
My friends and family liked my paintings and encouraged me to paint more, but by then, other interests had begun to take much of my time. And, again, there were the ladies.
With minimal dancing skill, unlike my sister Brenda, I concentrated more on music, art, 
drama and magic. I had a friend with whom I enjoyed being a track manager for Bob Timmons. The friend was Bob Gates who also played the clarinet with me in the Wichita High School East Symphony Orchestra and Marching Band as well as being in my Boy Scout troop and Hillside Christian Church, etc. I would like to think that I followed in his footsteps, but he went on to bigger things.
drama and magic. I had a friend with whom I enjoyed being a track manager for Bob Timmons. The friend was Bob Gates who also played the clarinet with me in the Wichita High School East Symphony Orchestra and Marching Band as well as being in my Boy Scout troop and Hillside Christian Church, etc. I would like to think that I followed in his footsteps, but he went on to bigger things. 
My best friend, Mike Elwell, promised to teach me to dance better if I would teach him to paint. In retrospect, he was not so much of a dancer, but instead became a noted sculptor. You can see Mike’s work at http://elwellbronzeart.com/about-avenue
When Mary Ann and I downsized in 2017 and moved to Arizona, we donated many of our possessions to victims of the wine country wildfires that occurred just as we were departing. As a member of our FWC wine board, I knew many of the victims who owned the 6,800 homes that burned to the 
ground and had lost everything. We had 9 sofas and took none with us — no beds and little furniture, not much of our 5,000 square feet of ‘stuff’ to a home half that size. That also saved us three stories worth of lot of unwanted steps in the moving process. However, we brought ALL of our art! We even have art hanging in our garage, sharing space with our cars, golf cart and Alexa, my Amazon friend, who resides in every room in our home [save one — the guest room] and even on the patio.
ground and had lost everything. We had 9 sofas and took none with us — no beds and little furniture, not much of our 5,000 square feet of ‘stuff’ to a home half that size. That also saved us three stories worth of lot of unwanted steps in the moving process. However, we brought ALL of our art! We even have art hanging in our garage, sharing space with our cars, golf cart and Alexa, my Amazon friend, who resides in every room in our home [save one — the guest room] and even on the patio.Don’t get me wrong, I do love sports, but I am happier watching my KC Chiefs, SF49ers, KU Jayhawks, Golden State Warriors and SF Giants than getting out there and rolling around with boys. I always have felt that way and always will! But painting and wine remain dearer to my heart.
Editor’s Note: Skip’s paintings have been collected into an album on the Gallery page. Click on Gallery in the blue bar at the top of this page and scroll down to see samples of his artistic work.
Great story, Skip. It also sparked my memory of Mike Elwell who I met and befriended at Robinson JHS. Hope you stay well.
Larry S
Skip…u continue to amaze me! I have known you since the eighth grade at Robinson but I never knew that you did art paintings. Plus they really look great. I remember the beautiful ones at your home in Arizona when I was there, but I never knew that you were the artist. Wow! That’s another amazing side of you. Thanks for sharing.
Dan Tontz