<Begin Segment 31>

TI: So it was about this time that I think Paul realized that he could start selling his paintings. Tell that story. How did that come about?

BH: I don't know how he started. I think when they knew, he used to, people, we had a friend that used to drop by and he'd like the painting, so he'd take it. And their name was Spinola, and he was an insurance salesman at the time. So he said, "Can I take one of your paintings? And I'm going to show it to people, maybe they might be interested in buying it." And so it was little things, but he used to put it in a briefcase and he'd take it on and wherever he went, he'd show Paul's painting. And it got so he sold one. He sold one, he sold it and he thought, "Well, that's pretty good. I could making a living painting." [Laughs] So he did that for a while.

TI: And so this is about 1950 or so that he was able to start selling these.

BH: Uh-huh.

TI: And so I'm curious. So you worked all month to raise a hundred dollars, or make a hundred dollars. How much was he able to sell his paintings for during this time?

BH: At that time I think it was like seventy-five dollars or something like that. And so when he got -- this Mr. Spinola sold a painting, sometime it was about, like over a hundred dollars or something. We did that for a while.

TI: And once he started doing that, did you continue to work?

BH: By that time, I never did find a job, but like I said, I worked at the laundry and then the Seafirst on Jackson, they were looking for somebody to work, so they said, "Why don't you go try?" And I said, "I don't want to work in a bank," that's a high-class job. I said, "I can't do anything like that, a country girl." [Laughs] But they said, "Go ahead and try," so I did. And they said, yeah, right away they hired me. So I started out from scratch. Then I worked there, I started in 1951, and I retired in, I quit when... I think you had to work 'til you're sixty-five or something nowadays to get pension.

TI: So in to the '70s then, '78 or so?

BH: I have no idea. Let's see, it must be. Because I worked there for quite a while.

TI: So it looked like about twenty-seven years?

BH: Yeah, something like that.

TI: Twenty-seven years, I think. And during this time, your husband just continued to paint and sell his paintings?

BH: Yeah. He stayed home and took care of the kids at the same time, make dinner.

TI: And describe the painter community that he...

BH: Oh, he used to go out with Mr. Nomura and Mr... [Laughs] My memory is really getting bad nowadays, I can't remember. I know the name and everything but I can't... Tokita. The three of 'em would get together and they'd go. And Paul had the car, so he took them and they'd go someplace and paint all day, come home with the sketches that they made.

TI: And during this time, was his style more landscape kind of...

BH: Yes, kind of, pencil sketching and things like that, yeah. I was surprised that he could make, just by pencil sketch he could make it into a painting, but he did that.

TI: And when the three of them were together, Tokita, Nomura, Horiuchi were all together, describe how they were with each other.

BH: They were very congenial, yeah.

TI: Did they ever sing together or stuff like that?

BH: I don't know. I think they must be talking about old times, what they went through, I guess. I don't know.

TI: Because you mentioned how Paul could sing and act...

BH: That was in Wyoming.

TI: But did he ever do that with his friends, and just kind of play around?

BH: No, no, he wouldn't anymore after that.

TI: So you mentioned Tokita, Nomura, the Japanese painters. How about the non-Japanese painters like Mark Tobey?

BH: Oh, yeah, he got acquainted. Then later on, after he started to open up a little shop, 'cause they said, "Why don't you open a little shop?" Was it 409 Pike Street? Got a little place to rent for I don't know how much, twenty-seven dollars or something like that, rent. And so he did that, of course, he didn't... had lots... other Mr. Horiuchi, Lucius's father, used to have lots of antiques. And so he, sometimes he said, "Why don't you sell this if you can?" So he had a little display, and people would come in once in a while and buy something. But it wasn't very good. [Laughs] He barely paid, made the rent, I think.

TI: But at some point, Paul started getting recognized as a painter?

BH: Yes. And they used to have an art fair in the Puyallup Fair, they used to do all that. He got some prizes there, sometimes first prize, sometimes honorable mentions and things like that. So that really encouraged him too... so that's when he started to become more serious. And then by that time, he was beginning to sell bigger things for bigger prices.

TI: And then I'm trying to think, with his style of paintings, it shifted at some point to more impressionist....

BH: He used to do that first, and then he found collage, which he found really interesting. And so then he, more or less, turned to collage. So that's when he started to sell, and then gallery. So he'd have a show once in a while, the galleries would be after him. Woodside used to sell, it was good, so he took in about... then he started painting some oils at that time, and they were bigger, not big as a big wall, but about 15 x 30 or something like that, or smaller, 15 x 20 maybe. So this was, he could make a living at painting, that's more up his line.

<End Segment 31> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.