2264 The bracelet

is the title I've given this painting.



It started as a black and white photograph of five children and a grandfather sent to me by my friend Sylvia. (My little brother didn't like to play with us, otherwise there would have been six children.) I cropped it to three children, and if I get really brave, I might try the five. Sylvia was wearing roller skates and I couldn't quite figure that part out with the shadows. Shoes and feet and fingers are hard enough--I just didn't feel ready for skates. Sylvia lived on a farm and says she loved to "come to town" where she could use her roller skates and her bike on hard surfaces. Roller skating in the gravel or riding a bike in a pasture was tough! Earlier view.

JoElla and I lived in the big town of Forreston, about 1,000 residents. I couldn't see a cat in the photo, but JoElla's cat was very prolific, and probably the feline ancestor of every kitty in northern Illinois, so I added "Butch" (Bertha Matilda Pussycat Elvira Mouser Mouria) in Richard's arms. I'm calling it "The bracelet" because I was so surprised to see it in the photo. It was probably my only piece of adornment and I was very proud of it. It had been given to me by my Sunday School teacher in the town from which we moved. Then the latest issue of Watercolor has a fabulous painting of two children sitting on a porch step that really almost made me want to throw this one away. It is realism beyond realism--the kind that goes beyond the photograph to show more than a photo tells. Oh well, this works on a greeting card which is how I'll use this. My sister will probably get one next week.

When we grew up, JoElla became my college roommate and later my Maid of Honor in my wedding. The last time I saw her was in 1996 when I visited her in Seattle where she was the President of a company that researches opinions and products. Sylvia, the little girl with the beautiful curls and roller skates who is NOT in the painting, is an RN and church musician, living in my hometown, and we had coffee together in October when I visited my sister and brother.