Are You Ready For a Real Cheeseburger? Sedalia, Missouri
Eddie's Drive In This story really is not about the painting, but the wonderful legacy a family gave to Sedalia's identity. Way back in the 'Great Depression,' not unlike today's 'Modern Depression,' families had been working and struggling to survive. This unique...
Dance Door Geraniums
My husband and I moved our two children to Edmond, Oklahoma, so that Steve would become a corporate Sonic Restaurant, Inc. person to help guide the company. During his tenure in Oklahoma, the husband went to work and the children went to school. This afforded me...
The Mysterious Red Roach Motel
We spend much of the summer months at our home on the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-southern Missouri. Just off the main Highway 54 is a very small hamlet of Roach, Missouri. Who ever named it had it in for the roaches there! During the 1940's and 1950's, people...
Death, Love, and Forgiveness, Blue Morning Glory
I did not have much of a relationship with Mother's mother, Grandmother Esther Edberg Shirley. As a child, my family and I would make the early morning drive from Sedalia, Missouri to Waterloo, Iowa about twice a year to see our Swedish Grandmother. She was a...
Once Upon A Prayer
I met Lucille Blessing Earle through her purchase of my 'Evening Water Tulip,' which I reviewed earlier. Lucille introduced me to the fabulous handmade Nampeyo pottery. http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/exhibits/nampeyo/gallery.shtml Lucille had several of her...
Cat Woman Lady In The Mirror
During my journey through college art, I would get professors who liked to mix things up. During my final winter term at Central Missouri State College, Warrensburg, Missouri, I took one of my last studio art classes, Advanced Drawing. Off hand, I bet it was Dr. Ed...
Pots and Jars
On April 1, 1987 my family and I left Sonic corporate for the franchisee world. We had the opportunity to buy the remaining six corporate Sonic Drive-Ins in Arizona. The Arizona drive-ins had not done well with the Midwest Sonic name identification and were...
Skylight Iris
Faced with many Oklahoma days of being alone while my children went to school and my husband being at work in and out of town, I found that painting spring flowers made me feel like myself. I found a small picture in a magazine of a Dutch iris. I was a serious...
Good Morning, Hello!
At this time, 1986, we were living in Edmond, Oklahoma. I love gardening and flowers. I planted a beautiful pink geranium in an older terracotta pot, and placed it on the ledge above the main sink in the kitchen. This wonderful plant greeted me every morning with...
One O’Clock Jump
At sometime during your early professional life one is presented with certain photo compositions that one did not create. This composition photo belonged to a student of mine. I offered to buy the photo, but the student willingly gave her full permission for me to...
Evening Water Tulip
Ahem... as part of my disclosure and honesty of writing, I will pull a George Washington-type confession in what exactly is the history of this painting (I did not cut down a cherry tree, as George confessed to his father). So here's the truth: the time was 1982, I...
Twilight Tulips
This painting was painted at the beginning of my best period of working. I was still experimenting with the red outlining. The photograph came from the same group of photographs from 'The Pink Waterlily' of the lily pond at the Missouri State Fair. What a...
Freehand Fireworks
My painting Freehand Fireworks takes inspiration from the beautiful area of Tlaquepaque in Sedona, Arizona. I knew this was going to be a great place for me to explore the many compositions from this unique place. I look for beautiful compositions, colors, and...
Spring Sigh
After having such a successful painting with First Sign of Spring, I decided to do another version. I needed a strong painting for a win! Since the paper I selected was hot pressed, or very smooth, the detail had to be more accurate. The first exhibition Spring...
Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and The Tooth Fairy
A long time ago in the Land of Nod, I believed fully in all the entities of Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and The Tooth Fairy. Being a child with a very good imagination, these beliefs really hit home with me. The best part, I did not have any other adult or child...
Electric Blue Vibrations
I am very fond of floral compositions. During a spring in Phoenix, Arizona, I saw the wonderful orchid trees in full bloom at the Biltmore Fashion Park Shopping Center. I took several close-up shots of these gorgeous blossoms against the blue skies. Later, I...
White Christmas, Sedalia, 1949
There are things I remember from my early childhood that have stayed with me all my life. One of these memories comes from an early Sunday Christmas morning in my hometown of Sedalia, Missouri in 1949. My Grandmother Klein lived alone in a huge upstairs five room...
City of Phoenix Art Commission Featured Artist
CHESTER'S GARAGE Seventh Avenue Streetscape Art Panels This project almost didn’t get off the ground. I had received notice of the competition when it was announced, and even printed off all the rules. Vacation came and the ‘Art Panels’ shuffled to the bottom of...
First Sign of Spring
I was now beginning to understand what particular technique and composition made a painting a show winner. Although we lived in Oklahoma, my heart was still in Arizona. I had banked many photo shots from my favorite area in Sedona, Arizona, 'Tlaquepaque'. That was...
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