love this meme

love the post your favorite paintings meme.



this watercolor has a wonderful story. in june of 1996, we went to nantucket for the first time with our children. i fell in love.
every time i get off the plane and smell the nantucket air, my whole body changes. and i am entranced once again. but i digress...
at the time, i was a single working mom, with no extra cash. tom and i had just started living together. on old south wharf, barbara van winkelen's studio is charm itself, and i saw this painting. "foxglove fairy grove" is the painting's name. not only are foxgloves my favorite flower, but the background has the most magical crackle effect.
needless to say, i couldn't afford it.
i won a bet, and tom and i came back to nantucket that october. the painting was sold, sigh. (i still couldn't have afforded it, but i like to torture myself).

many year's later, i am checking ebay, and there is the painting! i could not believe my eyes!
the best part was tom had had a few scotches, and after i told him the story, he said, bid on it. the kids were my witnesses. a week later, the painting was mine! i still get a frisson of pleasure every time i look at it :-)







robert frazier painted the second painting. the scene is our acreage in venus florida, where we keep the cows, and he painted it just for me! bobby is now the director of the nantucket artsists' association . he shows at the naa gallery and at the old spouter gallery on nantucket. bobby is also a writer and poet.



dd painted the last 3 paintings 3 years ago. she loves to go painting with bobby, and it is easy to see his influence on her paintings. of course i am not impartial, but i think she painted well for being 14.