Painting anthem singer performs at Florida Panthers game (Photos)

But he didn’t see the whole starving artist gig panning out in Michigan. Traveling in South Carolina, he said a gospel quartet had heard him. The group was recording in Taylors, outside of Greenville. The lead singer told Joe he’d give him a job driving a fuel truck, but that every weekend, “I need you singing.”

“It felt like a second home, a larger Midland in South Carolina,” he said.

He worked 60-hour weeks, filling any time left over by painting and working hard to build a studio.

“I kept believing that there’s got to be a way for me to do this full time,” he said.

He remembers his art manager asking whether he could try singing while painting. They wanted to do something patriotic, but didn’t want it to be too showy. Something that would give back by respecting this country through singing and painting, Everson said. Something like Iwo Jima.

“And then he (his art manager) said, ‘What if we do it upside down and reveal the flag at the end?’” Everson said.

They drew up drafts and concepts. His brother-in-law built a spinning easel made of scrap wood, like cabinets.

“It’s been a lot of work, about a year in the making,” he said.