Current Conditions
35°F - CLEAR
The 30-year-old homeless artist rides a bike attached to a two-wheel infant carrier attached to a homemade, two-wheel cart holding a cooler. Much of this makeshift three-piece rig is held together with duct tape.
But even more noticeable than the outlandish bike is the fact that Armstrong's two trailing vehicles are festooned with his artwork — held in place by plastic garbage bag ties — which he peddles wherever he pedals.
A sign at the rear of this odd train reads, "Homeless artist and oil painter with bad feet plus diabetes. Please help. God bless."
"Folks give me crazy looks, but it's OK," Armstrong said. "I'm cool with it."
Right now, Armstrong and his mobile art gallery can be seen traveling around the Ephrata area and along nearby country roads.
A native of southern California, Armstrong, with his family "scattered all over the place," took to the roads more than 10 years ago.
"I'm a little like Forrest Gump," he said. "I'm on my own. I've been riding around since I was 18. I've been all around the United States. I've been everywhere."
To survive, he plies the only skill he knows — he draws.
Armstrong's art business is a shoestring operation. His canvases are white squares of cardboard, some with an occasional dirt or grease smudge. His paintbox is an array of cups filled with colored marker pens, and his studio, at least for now, is a closet-size room at the tiny Ephrata Motel.
When he is lucky enough to score a sale, his asking price for a drawing is $50, all of which goes for food, lodging and the glucose pills he takes to control his diabetes.
"I take the pills and do my push ups and sit ups," he said. "I'll be all right. I take care of myself. I work out every day."
Armstrong has discovered that he makes more art sales while parked along rural country roads than he does in towns.
"There ain't no money in Ephrata," he said. "And in Blue Ball, there ain't no love at all, so I ride around to the outskirts. But I love the country. All country is good. I can make some money in the country."
Armstrong also finds customers outside the Ephrata Walmart store, but refuses to go into Lancaster, or any other city.
"The cities ain't nothing," Armstrong said. "I hate cities. I don't ever go into the city."
Not that he hasn't in the past. But his experiences in places like New York and Philadelphia have not been happy ones, whether on the streets or while staying in homeless shelters. In one city shelter, someone stole Armstrong's ice sculpting tools.
"People don't care about you in the city," Armstrong said. "Everyone there is out for themselves, and they don't care about you. All they care about is drugs and violence."
Armstrong has been in northern Lancaster County for "a couple of weeks" and plans to hang around as long as he can sell drawings.
Meanwhile, he continues to live off his meager proceeds and donations given by sympathetic passers-by.
"I'll hang around here as long as I can make some money," he said. "Then I'll move on."
