boys waiting for snow cones

Always drawn to other children, my grandson finds friends everywhere he goes. As we waited in the long line to buy snow cones this hot June day, he watched for a moment, then joined three other boys climbing on the roots of this great tree. Comfortable in his own skin - you gotta love that.

Harbingers of Hope

A Depression-era woman works a tiny garden as her daughter looks on (wondering when the harvest will be in!). It was inspired by this Depression-era quote: "Somehow, you can't help but feel hopeful, watching things grow." There will be a show of similarly-inspired works at Centenary's library, opening October 25th.

bathtime

Sitting in the kitchen sink, this baby loved to play in the water, trying to figure out just how to catch those bubbles. The image of those baby hands grabbing at the falling water are always in my brain, a happy memory of the way we try to make sense of the world around us. So much to understand!

after Hopper

Arguably my favorite painting, especially the play of light and dark, this is one of my early efforts to replicate a painting by one of my favorite artists, Edward Hopper. It was very hard for me, all straight lines and sharp contrasts, but I felt good about it when I finally finished and I like to look at it on my wall. Hopper called it "Summer Evening" (you can see the original at
http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=c&a=p&ID=1172), and I think it's one of his most evocative works. Like many of his, it begs the viewer to imagine the story behind it - what is going on with this couple? I love to think of what they might be saying to one another (or is it only the boy who is talking, trying to convince her to believe him when he tells her he loves her?), and wonder if they are not about to break up (I think so). The light of the porch, and the strip cast on the grass beyond, fill me with nostalgia - for what I am not sure. It looks so innocent, all pinks and blues, but they are not innocent. She is most assuredly guilty, if only of breaking the boy's heart, which she has surely done. Or perhaps he has stood her up to go drinking with his buddies, or to see another girl. It is definitely of another time, and I never understood the blue ceiling until it was explained to me as "haint blue" - designed to keep spirits away. Is there someone just inside the door, overhearing the conversation? I think yes - the younger sister of the girl on the porch, who is about to run inside and throw herself on her bed in tears over the boy in the blue shirt she left on the porch that summer evening.

Three for 2009

• This was the first painting I did after my grandson was born in 2005. He was brand new when he met his only living great-grandmother here. She was almost as proud of him as his mom and I were and had dressed up to meet him this day - so dear.
• No one I know, this writing fellow reminds me of my husband, white shirt and glasses and cigarette and all (he quit years ago, but could start up again in a heartbeat, he's told me). He's a writer, too. And I love that this guy still uses pen and paper.
  
  

Emmitt -

This sweet pup lived for many years with a family as devoted to him as he was to them - through injuries, accidents, failing health. One day last fall, he wandered away into the woods on a visit with them to the country and was never found. I suspect he knew his time was nearly up and wanted to save his dear friends the sadness of nursing him in the end, so loathe to let him go. I like this picture of him, fading out - partly somewhere else, where he can run and chase squirrels to his heart's content. If there are no dogs in heaven, I don't want to go there, but I feel certain that the God I know would surely want these family members to be there with Him!

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.