On October 31st, 2020, I told you about creating the portrait of “The Colonel.” You can read about it here.
The setting for that portrait was only made possible because of the very kind owner of Commercial Tavern in Maryhill, Ontario. Paul Weber opened up his tavern for us during off-hours and made us feel very welcomed.
The singing bartender
Paul not only owns the tavern, but he is also a performer. What else but country and western music, and of course, he has his own band. When you are a country and western performer with your own band, and you also happen to own a venue, I’m thinking there are pretty good odds you will become the house band.
As a thank you for his hospitality, I asked Paul if he would like to sit for a portrait. Paul disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later in costume, ready to go on stage. I created a few images of Paul, but this was my favourite. Using the bar as the background, his guitar as a prop, I captured the warm smile that went along with his personality.
While reviewing a collection of “Portraits by Invitation,” I decided to reprocess the image as a warm-toned black and white and loved the results.

Then, just a few days later, I read in the local paper that the Maryhill Commercial Tavern was one of the latest victims of COVID – 19 and would be closing.
Thank you, Paul, for your hospitality and the opportunity to create this “Portrait by Invitation.” Good luck with your future endeavours.