Re: Love Your Art

"Spring Is Busting Out All Over" and "Hope" the night before the parade (you can see more detail if you click the image)

Cookie Sunshine posted about "loving your art" and my first reaction was "YES, I know just what you mean when you have to let it go" and I told her about these two turtles I painted for a community fund-raiser. I lived with these two guys for several months, working hard on painting these two that had to join a parade of 72 other turtles the month of April . It was so much fun and I grew very attached to them. Hope was painted specifically for St. Joseph's Hospital and had a stain glass motif of a dogwood with clouds on the other side. And Spring... was sponsored by a doctor's office. They lived in the community until September and then they were all auctioned off. My turtles brought in $4000 each for the cause and that's a great feeling - some others brought in much more. I never saw them again but I'm pretty sure Hope still lives at the hospital.
I had not thought of these turtles for a long time until Cookie posted her blog about loving your art. And then, this is so odd, when I got home I had a call from the director of our community society and she said, "we have another project, on a smaller scale than the turtles, but would you be willing to paint a painting for our 20th anniversary gala/auction event?" "Yes, I would love to!"
I couldn't believe I got that call on this day that I was thinking of the turtles (it's been 3 yrs since I painted those turtles!). It's such a good feeling to know my art work is admired enough to be a part of elite group of artist and that it benefits such a good cause. So, I do love my art, especially when I know it makes others happy.

Oh, here's the back of Spring... (and my dog, Evee). I liked that little wren.