My dad passed away this year and has been on my mind a lot lately, I will always miss him. When I was born, he wanted to name me after him, I was the third daughter and supposedly his last chance for a namesake. Mom was still under anesthesia when the nurse brought in the in birth certificate to be filled out. Instead of Karla Jo, as planned, he filled in Huberta Josephine (his name was Hubert). Mom promptly changed it as soon as she was able, but it was a story that horrified me as a child and entertains me as an adult.
To honor his wishes for someone to be named for him, I named a Yorkie puppy Huberta this summer. Sadly, she died 4 months later and I was heart broken again. Soon after, I made a tie dye shirt for my little grand baby, the fairy girl, Leandra. I thought I’d go for something fancy from the tie dye video we got and spent time folding and tying off what I thought would be a butterfly. 24 hours later, when I washed it out, I discovered this- Bertie’s portrait!!
Here is a photo of Bertie the Yorkie on a hand painted bench in my studio, she spent a lot of time out here with me while I worked. With her is an angel I made from a vintage doll with some sparklies and feathers, after re-painting the face. And doesn’t the tie dyeshirt bear an eerie resemblance to her?
Recently, while going through my desk, I saw Bertie’s AKC papers and noticed for the first time, that her birthday was my parent’s wedding anniversary. Seeing that date, freshened the feelings of loss that I will always have with me. I decided to do something productive with these feelings and made an album in honor of my dad. He was an avid gardener and I wanted to express that on the cover. I peeled the labels off cans of tomatoes and green beans and tore up a 1950s garden guide that was in my stash of supplies, to collage the cover. I think he’d like that. Tomatoes were important to him. At his funeral, when everyone else brought flowers, I brought a tomato plant.
I have many of the photos in thiscollage album (not all are loaded yet) in my photo album here on this site. Click on the one labeled "Downey" to see it. When it is opened, click on the photos to enlarge.