More Sunshine

Quiet Prairie

8x10

acrylic on canvas

I painted this landscape from a photo in the summer of 2008 at the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus and it was inspired by a man in the class named Harry. I had some wonderful chats with him over the week we were there painting and he was such a gentle man; a farmer all his life and he really loved the land. He had always wanted to go to art school and as a young married man he had been accepted into a visual arts program in a different province, but his equally young (first) wife was too nervous to leave the prairies and as a result he didn't go. He settled into a life on the farm and never pursued his love for art. Finally, though, here he was at the Kenderdine campus at the age of about 60, with a bad hip and a second wife chasing his dream after all those years. He was an inspiration. I hear he returned to the campus this past summer for the class in August... I am hopeful that I will see him again someday, that our paths will cross at Kenderdine.

Onto the topic of sunshine...

You should have seen me last night... I haven't been that giddy since, well, the afternoon of November 8th which was my gallery reception. Why was I giddy you ask???? Well, I met my friend Nancy at Indigo to get some Christmas shopping done and when I walked in the doors who is packing up from his book signing but..... drum-roll....   

R.L. Prendergast of "The Impact of a Single Event" fame!!! 

I could not believe my eyes! If you aren't familiar with this blog you need to know that this is one of my all-time favorite books and you can read the post I made about this book if you click here (Impacts and A-ha Moments). I walked in and stopped in my tracks. He was getting his coat on and I looked at him, and then the table of books, and then him, and then the poster, and then I said something extremely clever like "Are you Him???" to which he replied "yes". I proceeded to gush that this was one of my all-time favorite books and then he asked "Did you write about it on your blog?" That freaked me out and I panicked slightly thinking I might be in trouble. He clarified that my friend was in the store somewhere and had told him about me (good ol' Nance) and had given him my name to Google! Ack! I was shaking I was so excited to meet him... and I had questions... which he answered! It was fantastic! Fantastic, I tell you! I ended up buying three more books which he signed for me and I had chattered/raved about it so much at his table that I think he sold at least three more copies to other customers before he left for the night. It is such a good book. Such a good book! Put it on your Christmas wish list today! Check out the above link to the website which is really well done and I think it will get you intrigued enough to buy the book. If anyone knows Oprah, please tell her to read it!