Stevie Ray Vaughan was not yet a star when his wife, Lenora “Lenny” Vaughan, gave him a worn 1965 Stratocaster® guitar on his 26th birthday, October 3, 1980.

Vaughan first spotted the guitar in a pawnshop about a year after he and Lenora were married.

It was originally a three-color sunburst model, it had been refurnished at some point, and now it had a dark natural finish and an elaborate design behind the bridge. At $350, he couldn’t afford it. Lenora, however, enlisted seven friends with $50 each, and bought the guitar for her husband for his birthday. That very night, as Lenora slept, Vaughan wrote a beautiful song for her, “Lenny.”

Years after Stevie Ray Vaughan’s tragic death in 1990, and at older brother Jimmie Vaughan’s behest, Lenny became the only guitar from his estate to be made available to the public.

At a historic June 24, 2004, Christie’s auction in New York, Lenny sold for $623,500.

Last week I started a new category to the blog titled “Guitar Art”.

The category was well received so I will make it a habit of adding more posts to it as I come across artists that focus their work, or a portion of their work, on our favorite instrument.

Today’s contribution to the “Guitar Art” category is a “Tribute to SRV”.

The artist’s name is Paul Chase.

Paul Chase is an internationally known artist, author, innovator, visionary and…you guessed it… a guitarist.

He is the founder and CEO of Graphicguitars Inc., fine art guitar paintings, prints and posters.

He received a Bachelors degree in Art and a Masters in Communications. He has taught art in high schools, vocational/technical school, and at the college level for over 30 years.

Paul is a distant relative of the “other” famous American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (and they are both developed their art “roots” in hometown Sun Prairie, WI) and his large close up guitar images reflect her large close up flower series.

These guitar paintings are also available as limited edition prints.

You can email Paul at: paul@graphicguitars.com or view his gallery by CLICKING HERE.

If you contact Paul please mention you saw his guitar art on TheGuitarBuzz.com!