N. Barry Carver is better known to his acquaintances as the author of a collection of short stories called “Sunday Best,” but he’s also been painting for more than 25 years.

And earlier this month, he won his first award for his artwork.

N. Barry Carver won first place in the Eastern Kansas Veteran's Creative Arts Festival and Competition for this mixed media abstract titled Nice

His mixed-media abstract, titled “Nice Slice,” nabbed first place in the Eastern Kansas Veteran’s Creative Arts Festival and Competition. The piece now will move on to the national contest.

“No one is more surprised by first place than I am,” says Carver, a Detroit native who handled intelligence traffic for the U.S. Army during the Grenada Invasion. “I paint abstracts because I feel called to do it. At times I just ache to make these pictures that seem to flow out of me.”

Carver, 46, recently moved to Lawrence from Los Angeles, where he’d been trying his hand at acting. Previously, he had produced television news in several West Coast cities.

He is currently working on two more books: another collection of short stories and a new take on some classic fables. He plans to have both works published by the fall.

“I don’t think any award will influence my painting,” Carver says. “It often heads off in directions of its own choosing.”