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Thanks for stopping by, whether you got here by a link or hitting "next blog" -- I am glad you are here. I've also done some writing on homeschooling, and what I learned thinking I was teaching.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

A New Commission


A distinct delight that these years in Dallas have given me is a weekly art class at Pigment School of the Arts. Though the most of the students are primary students, a few times a week, older students are welcomed – and I am among the oldest. Since 2006, I have enjoyed the camaraderie of painters and potters, and the tutelage of an accomplished artist and teacher.  And I have produced . . . art. 

Now, all my accomplishments are not ready for a prime time exhibition at the Kimball, or Dallas Museums, but I placed a few of my paintings in a recent show that Pigment Hosted. And someone liked a painting!  They wanted to buy it! It was however only on loan to the exhibition, having been promised to Douglas, who is unfailingly supportive.  

(Doesn’t that sound . . . a wee bit cheeky: It was only on loan . . .?)

The subject is a bright red cardinal nestled in snow-laden trees in western Maryland, painted from a photograph that Dave Wolfe snapped. I loved the photo, and felt my picture fell short of conveying the moment Dave recorded. So, in addition to it being promised, I was uncertain of its worth. However, I agreed to reproduce it, for a modest fee.


Because so many of the students attending classes at Pigment are six decades younger than I am, they are transparently kind in assessing my work in the studio.   On a few occasions, they have made especially thoughtful and positive comments. But recently, when one young student learned I had expressed reservations about the painting’s worth, she stopped her art own project and wrote me a note.



I was stunned and deeply touched and remembered how powerful a tonic a few kind words spoken from the heart can be. 

Emboldened by such kindness, I started my first commissioned painting, hopefully reproducing what first attracted someone’s interest – alas, with instructions that I leave out the bird.

Kind words are like honey -- sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. (Proverbs 16:24) 






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