Truly Calico

I have been asked to paint cats.  I don't know about cats so I usually don't paint them but I saw this picture posted by Camille on a site I use to paint  photos. (PMP-art.com)  

 I was drawn to the unusual background and the way it reflected off the cat.  

12" x 16"

oil on archival board

$225

You Make Me Feel Loved - SOLD

12" x 12" oil on archival board 

There is This Thing Called Love - SOLD

24" x 36"

Acrylic on stretched linen

I will be participating in the Mountain Brook Art Association Art in the Village on May 4.  Every year Norton's Florist provides a floral arrangement for the artists to paint.  Below you will see the arrangement provided for this year.  I chose to paint only a portion of the arrangement on a large canvas (24" x 36").  I also provided a picture of how it would possibly look on a wall depending on the size of the couch.  I really love this painting.  I rarely ever say that about one of my paintings but when I paint large paintings I also paint something that I can see living on MY wall.  

(You can click on the picture to get a larger view)

Nolan - SOLD

Little boys can just steal your heart!

I'm That One - SOLD

Years ago when my youngest son, Adam, was 9 years old, he loved baseball cards.  One weekend there was a baseball card show at our local mall and I made plans to take him on a Saturday.  I remember we arrived early and we walked up to the mall hand in hand.  He was so excited and I was happy that he was happy.  I was filled with anticipation of a great day together.  We walked into the mall and I saw so many young boys already there, many of them I recognized as his school friends.  He saw them too and immediately dropped my hand and said, "See ya' later Mom!" and ran off.  I stood there, feeling a little rejected.  I thought, "Hey, I planned my whole Saturday around being with you.  I thought we were going to spend time together, not to mention the fact that I actually gave you birth and now you act like you do not even know me!" Needless to say, I found a chair in the middle of the mall and sat and waited for Adam to return.  

Two weeks later I was teaching a childbirth class and came home around 9:00 p.m.  My older two children were home but my husband and Adam were not. (This was before everyone had cell phones.) When I walked in, my daughter said, "Mom, Adam jumped off the couch and broke his arm and Daddy took him to the hospital".  Do you think I stopped and thought about the earlier experience at the mall and how he did not want me around then?  Do you think I thought about how I had felt rejected that day?  NO!  I drove like a crazy woman to the hospital and I ran in the doors of the emergency room.  Nurses were asking me, "Ma'am, can I help you?"  I ignored them and ran into the back of the emergency room and went from cubicle to cubicle until I found Adam.  His father was at a desk completing paper work and Adam was all alone in the room. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, it hurts."  I sat down beside him and gently pulled him close to me and said, "I'm here".  I think at that moment we both knew it was going to be ok.

I have thought back to that experience and it reminds me that when we are hurting, feeling alone, maybe feeling like we have been rejected, God comes to us.  He runs.  He pulls us close and He says, "I am here".

There is a parable Jesus told about a lost sheep.  "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts him on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep'.  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  Luke 15: 4-7 NIV

We're Found - SOLD

I have read a book by Rachel Naomi Remen entitled, Kitchen Table Wisdom.  This is an older book but has a unique perspective on healing that comes from her background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist and a long-term survivor of chronic illness.  She invites us to listen from the soul to other's stories.  She states in the book, "Life is the ultimate teacher, but it is usually through experience and not scientific research that we discover it's deepest lessons.  A certain percentage of those who have survived near death experiences speak of a common insight which afforded a glimpse of life's basic lesson plan.  We are all here for a single purpose; to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better.  We can do this by losing as well as through winning, by having and by not having, by succeeding or by failing.  All we need to do is to show up openhearted for class."

These guys showed up.

I Hear His Voice - SOLD

I have a wonderful friend, Paula D'Arcy who is a writer, conference leader and counselor.  I met Paula over 30 years ago at a week long event with Norman Vincent Peale.  He was known as the father of positive thinking.  His best selling book is entitled, The Power of Positive Thinking.   Paula was a speaker at that conference and told the story of losing her husband and young daughter in a car accident while she was pregnant with her second child.  Her story was one of a painful journey back to a faith in a God who she was not sure of and was not even sure she wanted to know.  Her story can be found in the book, A Song for Sarah.  Her story was so compelling to me.  I waited in line for about an hour to speak to her.  The conference was being held in New York and I told her I was from Alabama and I led a women's group there. I asked if she would consider coming to Alabama to speak to a small conference if I organized it.  She said, "Well, I have been all over the world and never to Alabama.  I will come."  That conference was the beginning of 10 years of women's retreats with Paula as the main speaker.  Sometimes I would make it a weekend complete with massage therapy, artists, books and even a potter.  I still hear from women who remember those retreats and especially Paula's speaking.  I have not seen Paula in over 15 years and last Fall I attended a silent retreat where she was the leader and we spent the first hour talking non stop (before the silence started).  **Just a disclaimer here for those who know me personally....that will be my last silent retreat.  I know they are wonderful and hold so much introspective time for many but it was very hard for me to be quiet for 3 days.**

I remember a story Paula told me once that has stayed with me.  She was talking about the way God speaks to us and she told me about visiting a sheep farm.  She said she met the shepherd of the flock and learned that he had a large amount of sheep to watch over and take from field to field and he told her that all he had to do was call them and they would all come to him because they knew him.  They knew he was their shepherd.  She said that one morning she was walking early and no one else was around.  She decided to walk up to the fence where the sheep were and she called out "Sheep!"  just like she had previously seen the shepherd do.  Not even an ear twitch from one of those sheep.  She proceeded to try and make her voice deeper and used several different inflections.....no response.  She left feeling a little embarrassed.  She later went back with the shepherd and watched as he called, "Sheep!"  and when they heard his voice they all came to the gate to be let out.  The sheep knew the voice of the shepherd.  They spent time with him, when he called they recognized him immediately.

I think there is a sermon there.  

I Want to Be Real - SOLD

Seven years ago my brother Ronnie died from a rare cancer.  He was one of the most "Real" people I have ever known.  He was 16 years older than me so I looked up to him as more than a brother but also as someone with more years and wisdom.  When he got sick, we took him to MD Anderson and we were told there was really nothing that could be done and they encouraged us to go home and allow him to enjoy his last days with family and friends.  One particular day my sister in law and her son were walking with Ronnie and he suddenly stopped and looked straight ahead and asked, "how old is that man?"  My sister in law obviously could not see the person my brother was referring to and asked, "I do not know, what is his name?"  My brother replied, "I think they call him Rudolph".  My sister in law called me and relayed the story.  She was concerned that maybe he was delusional, however, he never again said anything else out of the ordinary.  Two days after this conversation on January 11 he died.  

Ronnie had lived his life well and was very well respected in his community.  On the night of the funeral visitation, we, the family, were asked to start visitation early as the line of people who came to pay their respects was so long it went out the door and into the street.  We started an hour early and stayed late to greet all the visitors.   I left the funeral home that night tired, sad but thankful for all the people his life had touched.   Even in the midst of all the love and concern expressed, that night I found myself asking God, "just tell me one more time that I will see him again.  I have heard him tell all of his grandchildren he will see them again one day and I just need to know - is it true?"

I have been a Christian for a very long time.  I believe but I also have a certain understanding of the man in Mark who brought his child to Jesus for healing.  Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes."  The father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" 

As I was walking out of the funeral home I glanced up at the marquee with my brother's name and time of service.  Next to that marquee was another one and it had the name of a man who was also to have a service the next day.  His name was Charles RUDOLPH Kirchner.  I heard God whisper, "Is that a good enough sign for you?"  

My sister in law waited 3 months and then called Mr. Kirchner's widow and told her the story.  She told her she felt that her husband had walked into Heaven with Mr. Kirchner. They died within 30 minutes of each other.  Mrs. Kirchner said she had prayed to know her husband was at peace.  He had Lou Gehrig's disease and was unable to speak for the past 10 years.  She also said, "no one called him Charles, his name was Rudolph".


There is a quote found in The Velveteen Rabbit that I love.  It was written by Margery Williams.

"You become.  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and our eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

I just want to be Real.