If It’s Here, Find It!
About the Author.
In his seafaring days.
PAUL HAMPTON CROCKETT is an artist and attorney (you figure it out!) living in his crazed but wonderful hometown of Miami, FL. He practices with The Crockett Law Firm there, focusing on probate and estate planning, as well as the representation of the legal rights of sexual minorities and the growing number of people affected by HIV. He has been HIV-positive for at least double as many years as he has fingers, and remains active in community-based organizations, public education, and advocacy as he is able.
He has also had published numerous newspaper and magazine columns dealing with the legal concerns of sexual minorities and people with HIV, articles for the Florida Bar, and self-published, along with his late companion Scott Gillen, Gay Law 101, a book on the subject of gay and lesbian legal rights. His second book, HIV Law: A Survival Guide to the Legal System for People Living with HIV, was published by Random House in 1997 and widely acclaimed.
Crockett’s journey as an always-learning, self-taught artist was fueled into fully inspired madness following his HIV diagnosis. Something about having a “fatal disease” wiped away all obstacles to an innate need, always carried within, to make as huge a mess as possible, with color. His work has remained driven by that sense of urgency and a hunger to see and express, given fresh impetus from time to time by the reliable occasional trauma. The paintings have been well-loved, locally and beyond, and the general consensus is that they appear to be art. Some of his work is occasionally showcased right here!
His partner in life is the famed brilliant eccentric, Alan Langdon. They live with their wondrous cat Hoppers and (from time to time) numerous guests from around the world in their extraordinarily green little Havana compound, viewable at http://lostreefcottage.net/ and http://www.welcometothemission.net/ They often feel fortunate to have found one another, and to call home such a rare and beautiful slice of the only planet they (despite some conversation to the contrary) have ever seriously considered living upon.
He has also posted online several chapters from his book chronicling his own personal experience of the immediacy of the angels and love after death, titled Death is an Impostor. They can be read at http://deathisanimpostor.com
He wishes to express his profound gratitude for the constant love and support of his family through the sweet and the unthinkable, is more proud than he can say of his 5 nephews and most singular niece, and the friendships that are his treasure.
He can be reached at crockettartworks@gmail.com, usually!
Thank you for stopping by.
It’s About Love, Not Death.
Category Archives: Art
Coconut Palm Lullaby: First Painting of 2012
Around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. –On William Blake, http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/116 LAST NIGHT, in a single sitting, my first painting of 2012 was born on wooden board. So my personal “New … Continue reading
First, Some Art.
WHY not start with art? I’m still refining this technological boondoggle, but click on the image below and you’ll be led… somewhere! I’m still working on this one…so please pardon my existential dust : ) Palm Song, Nocturne P. … Continue reading
“Awakening Into the Florida Dream” Chapter 3: A River Runs Through It.
Chapter 3 The Lay of the Land: the Mysterious Everglades The natural lay of the land. South Florida, 1859. WELL beneath the abundance of colorful images and the frothy profusion of stereotypes that we tend to immediately recognize and … Continue reading
“Stranahan Hammock”: An Imagined Historical Landscape
The Stranahan House and Trading Post, 1910′s, the marital home of Frank and Ivy. The home perched immediately alongside Fort Lauderdale’s New River carried already an illustrious history of a few brilliant, irreplaceable decades, and was soon to begin its … Continue reading
Happy 80th, Dad (& Mom, Happy Day!)
My parents, before they had actually met, at least in this lifetime. SOMETIMES a painting can be more than a painting. Newlyweds, 1953. They are here pictured with my maternal grandmother Flora Frye Q’Quinn, one of the … Continue reading
“A Land More Kind than Home”
Miami River Rapids, 1907. I would like to share with you a work in progress that is special to me. Some of you will recall that I have posted images of the painting in its earlier stages. Yet certain journeys … Continue reading
