Montreat Boy

A boy who meets the world head-on, Wells is not a kid who would let something like a little fence keep him from somewhere he needs to be! He is a love and completely at home wherever he goes, surrounded with new friends he hasn't met yet - what a gift! Here, he is peering over the fence at Lake Susan, in Montreat, N.C., a place we both know well and love.

Love

These are three more members of the family of the happy girl in the yellow sundress - her aunt, uncle, and cousin. I tried to capture something of the peace that radiates from their eyes - but peace is hard to see; it's something you experience. I wish there was something I could do to pay back some of what they have done for me, in doing for others what I cannot do (they are medical missionaries to Bangladesh), but there really isn't. So I painted their pictures because it made me not feel so useless and because I wanted them to know how much I love them.

red rocking chair

Girl with a red bow, red gingham dress with rocking horses, perched in red rocking chair - irresistible! She is watching some unseen activity or person just outside the picture, and so seems unaware that she is being observed.

Nina and the Yellow Dress

What could make a girl feel happier than a new yellow sundress? Twirling around and around in her grandfather's garden to show it off for the camera, Nina radiates a joy that comes from being a part of a family overflowing with love. She is the daughter of a beloved friend who once was the favorite babysitter of my own daughters.

Maggie and the watermelon

Our precious Maggie is a funny girl, and this painting makes me laugh everytime I look at it. This was her first experience with watermelon, and the look on her face reminds me of Robert McCloskey's character in Blueberries for Sal, who carefully ate every blueberry she picked.

supper

This boy eating his supper alone (loosely based on a painting by the amazing Carl Larsson called "Evening Meal" - see the original at web site below) reminds of those times when I would be left at the table alone to finish a meal, long after everyone else had finished. I can't remember telling my own children "You're not leaving the table until you eat your supper!" but I may have done so, cruelly echoing my own mother's imperative. This child doesn't seem to be bothered much, whatever his reason for eating alone may be; maybe he is just got hungry and is eating his supper early, not waiting for anyone else. I wish every child could sit down to supper whenever she felt it was time to eat and be fed without thinking anything of it, as I did, as my children did, as my grandchildren do. http://scandinaviantreasures.com/website1/pages/CLEVEN1.htm

at the beach

These three friends are playing in the chilly waters of the Pacific. I always wondered about the veracity of paintings of children at the beach wearing sweaters and jackets, but have learned first-hand that even ice-cold ocean water is no deterrent to a child! Naturally, the lovely tow-headed daughter of my former teaching buddy is the smartest, leaving the water after a quick splash.

baby cups

When you paint silver, you are really painting whatever you see reflected there. Most of these cups came to me from my dear late mother-in-law and I treasure them. One is monogrammed and dented, and I can almost hear the clatter of it banging on the metal high chair tray of the toddler who would grow up to be my husband. His mom would certainly have let him use it. I gave up using the precious silver spoons my children received as baby gifts after the last one took a spin in the disposal. The tall goblet has my monogram and came to me as a bridesmaid's gift from my cousin's wedding long ago. The champaigne I drank out of it that day did it for me forever. I love that cup, not because of the champaigne, but because of the memory it holds of the tow-headed boy cousin who took great delight in filling and refilling it for me that long afternoon.

Ronald and Martha, circa 1930

I have a very few pictures of my dad as a child, like this one with his sister, wearing coats, but I can't imagine why. They lived in South Florida, where winters rarely required more than sweaters. They were the fifth and sixth of eight children, so it is hard to imagine there having been money enough for luxuries like coats. They do look sharp, though, in their 1930's haircuts, my dad's arm around his sister's shoulder. He was no doubt trying to keep her still for the camera. He kept that arm around others' shoulders all of his life, hoping to keep them out of harm's way.

cousins in summer, l950

In this painting of my Florida cousins, they all look pretty serious. They were most likely just blazing hot. Just outside the painting, on the step, were the little foot and handprint impressions of the siblings who lived in this house, which my uncle built for his family. My dad used to tell the story of how he would buy as many concrete blocks as he could afford, then build on the house as far as he could until he could save up to buy more blocks.

worried about displaced pets

My friend Dixie looks concerned about all of the evacuees and whether they'll have a safe place to stay - and rightly so. So many displaced folks - so many dogs.

summer girl

I thought this sunburned girl would be an appropriate way to say goodbye to summer. She isn't my own grandchild but that of a dear painting friend, and I couldn't resist trying to capture her. I think she's telling the kid behind the concessions counter that she regrets asking for strawberry ice cream (who wouldn't?) and now needs a new chocolate cone, instead. Pink was easier to paint, though.

Beach Boy

Discovering the Atlantic ocean - even in jacket weather - opened new horizons for our water-loving boy. More rocks to throw and shells to pocket. the water was freezing cold but he wasn't deterred one bit.

Art Imitating Art

Mary Cassatt painted "The Young Girls" in about l885; the expressions she captured are unsurpassable, and I hoped by attempting to duplicate her work to sharpen my eye for the gestures which truly convey personality and emotion. I like to imagine what these two might have been thinking as they posed for the artist. Best friends, maybe cousins who delighted in one another's company. I remember feeling that way about my own cousins.

Boys on Bikes

Old family pictures fascinate me. As I study an old photo, I try to reconstruct the day the shot was taken, the moment, the photographer. This picture of three brothers was taken, probably by their dad, on a summer day in 1955. My husband (on the far left) reports that this is absolutely typical of those days for his brothers and him - shirtless, shoeless, outside dawn until dark, footloose in the yard and nearby neighborhood of those days. Their goofy expressions indicate they were likely trying to get their dad's goat as he attempted to get them to smile for the camera. He spent a lifetime trying to get his family to perform for his camera, with little success. I like the big boys riding by in the background, like to wonder where they ended up.

The Boy

My first effort to capture my grandson came after watching him on a gulf coast vacation, where he spent most of his time not on the beach but playing with the hose. He was - and is - entranced by water, though now that interest manifests itself in his playing fireman and shooting everyone with an imaginary hose. Fires everywhere.

finding a voice

I've painted forever, but only really discovered my voice (as we call it in the English teacher world) when I started painting my grandchildren. They are beautiful beyond words but their personalities are what I really hope to capture in my paintings. Their mom says I did so in this most recent one of precious miss m.