We have a winner

“UGGs, book, and a laptop”, 2.5x4.5 watercolor sketch

Here’s one of the last two watercolor sketches I have of students gearing up for finals at UNC.

Interruption: my neighbor just stopped by with his usual Christmas gift for me, chocolate covered peanuts. I’m told he and his wife are now in their 80’s. Their son died just before Thanksgiving with a ruptured heart. 52 years old. As I watched his Dad step down my icy front steps, I thought to myself,

Sometimes life just kicks the crap out of us.

Two of you who put in guesses on the dude in the painting contest were friends of mine when my 36-year old husband Jerry died of cancer. I became a 29-year old widow. That’s when life beat up on me. I couldn’t have survived my loss without these close friends. Writer friend Leslie Carson Ritchie went out to eat with me when for some reason food wouldn’t go down in the presence of anyone else. Donna Jansen, also a writer, is a rock solid friend who I met in 1976 when she and I became a writer/art director team at TEAM Electronics, a chain of stereo component stores (remember those?) based in Minneapolis.

The contest was not rigged or biased. But I am glad Donna guessed the right dude. She’s been a great supporter of mine as well as a good customer. She is partial to my animal paintings and now has practically a farm in her collection — cows, sheep, goats, maybe others. It was partially her response to my last round of cow paintings that led in Fearrington Village (click “Losing the Muse”) to my last commission to paint a wedding. Thank you Donna!