paintings

While my sister was ill, I wanted to be with her as much as I could.

Living in Kansas made that hard to do.  But my sweet husband covered the home base while I was away.  Even through a tiny dog’s lingering illness, multiple emergency vet trips, then nursing Sugarwings through a round of Covid before catching it himself.

I made as many trips to Indiana as I could, just to sit by Bobbie’s side and be there if she needed me.  

My Good Juju buddies covered for me during February’s first Friday weekend since I was in Pendleton with family.

My other sister took me in as a semi permanent houseguest and we had a lovely time spending evenings together eating dinner in front of the tv while watching horror movies and then playing with piles of beads and making jewelry.  She made tasty meals for us and we worried about Bobbie together.

Each morning, I’d gather up my lamp, folding table and supplies to take to Bobbie’s house and set up a work station near her.

At first she would sleep most of the morning, then welcome the endless parade of people who loved her and wanted to visit in the afternoons and evenings.

As days passed, she’d sleep more but was always so happy to see the many people who wanted to spend time with her.

Bobbie was one of those special beings who just made you feel good to be around.

And she’d always been there for everyone else.  So they wanted to be there for her.

You could tell how beloved she was by the driveway full of vehicles, tables full of flowers, phone calls and FaceTimes, meals dropped off, and packages from a lifetime of friends and family who needed to be near.

At first, I was painting these quick, little nature studies to fill my booth and also keep myself grounded.  Then I started sharing them with visitors and family as they came to see my sister.

I enjoyed gifting them as mementos and must’ve given away dozens.

They are sketched onto old book pages with a sharpie, then roughly colored in with water solvable markers, washed with clear water on a brush.

After they dry, I touch up the lines with the sharpie again and add highlights with a white pen.

The backgrounds of some are iridescent watercolor that Bobbie gave to me.

Every little sketch I gave away was an appreciation to everyone who showed love to my sister, helped her or her family,  fed us, and wanted to be near.   Thank you, to you all for your kindnesses to the Valentines. 

Way back when my boys were little, I used to hand paint tee shirts for them.  Then, later on, it became a business for me and I’d sell tees and sweatshirts wholesale to local boutiques and to Silver Dollar City.  After years of it, I burnt out and went on to other endeavors.

 When the grandfairies came along, I painted a handful of shirts for them, but not many.  

Funny, that I never took the time to create more than a couple for them.  I guess that burn out ran deep.

Every once in a while, I do some as baby gifts because babies in onesies are about as cute as anything can be.  I love onesies, but they can be kinda boring as a gift, so I add something personal.  Like this fish for a nephew who lives by the shore.

And this pup for another nephew who has two yellow labs and a new baby.  I painted a six pack of shirts as baby gifts, but forgot to take photos of the rest.  

The best part was that I really had a good time doing them.  Maybe the exhaustion from the year that I painted over a thousand has finally dissipated.