I'm figuring out this new template... and ACCEPTED INTO ART QUILTS LOWELL 2010

Okay, it was a sleepless night....dreaming about problems with this new template.  I'm possibly getting the hang of this.  So.....I did manage to post about 25 images from the Nick Cave exhibition at the Halsey Institute.  One is above as a "teaser".  It was over-the-top FANTASTIC.  To see my images, CLICK HERE!

Scroll down for Adoption and Buckle Up!, two new Decision Portrait Images.  I've got several more finished and will post soon.

NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS:  Time Flies, a Grave Rubbing Art Quilt, was accepted into ART QUILTS LOWELL 2010!  To see more images that can be enlarged, click here!

Adoption, Decision Portrait

(Above:  Adoption, Decision Portrait.  Stitched words:  I contacted my birth parents.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Hand embroidery and beading.  Unframed, 25" x 19"; Framed, 31" x 25".  Click on image to enlarge.)

Caron Mosey is talented.  She's both a quilter and the author of America's Pictorial Quilts (1985, the first book devoted to the subject) and Contemporary Quilts from Traditional Designs (1986).  She's taught quilting all over the nation, published too many articles to list, promotes quilting in her home state of Michigan, and is constantly busy creating her totally outstanding quilts.  She's surrounded by talent too.  Her husband Dean is an extraordinary, fifth generation woodworker whose been in business for himself since 1974.  Please visit Caron's BLOG!

(Above:  Adoption, detail.  Click on image to enlarge.)

One of the most important influences in Caron’s artistic life was her mother.  Caron’s blog includes this passage:  “my mother, who from the age of 16 sewed all of her own clothes… and mine. She sewed curtains, upholstered furniture, and created just about everything she could make using fabric and thread and her Singer Featherweight. She had more talent in her little finger than I will ever have.”

Yet, this is Caron’s adopted mother.  Like many adopted children, Caron sought out her birth parents.....and found them.  This quest was undoubtedly important. 

(Above:  Adoption, detail.  Click on image to enlarge.)

I stitched the piece using a lovely trim bought in Austria while studying with Sara Lechner.  I cut it into individual flower sections.  It just seemed to have the perfect, almost old fashioned beauty of Caron's sepia toned child's photo.  It was also my way to creating something "contemporary" while using something "traditional". 


(Above: Adoption, detail.  Click on image to enlarge.) 

I also must add that this is another portrait that resulted from Dawn Goldsmith's blog post!  Thank you Dawn!

This past week....and I think I hate the new blogger templates!

This post is supposed to be my update for the past busy week. I inadvertently clicked a few buttons on blogger and ended up with a new template that I don't like, don't understand, and isn't being very cooperative with uploading the many images that I thought I would be sharing this evening. Three hours have passed. PLEASE HELP!  I can't figure out the placement on the screen and am having to typing EVERYTHING in the "Edit HTML" settings.  How can I get everything to align on the left?  I've click "publish" about twenty-five time over the past three hours.   I'm sure this new system is "great"....if I only understood how it worked.

Above and below are just two of the over 24 images I saved from an incredible exhibition in Charleston called Call and Response: Africa to America/The Art of Nick Cave and Phyllis Galembo. It's at the Halsey Institute. It was truly fascinating and totally obsessive in the best possible way.  I planned on posting about 24 images on another blog.....PLEASE tell me how to do this.  I've tried four times and only captured one image each time despite waiting FOREVER and seeing thumbnails that indicated that the image were uploaded.  Believe me....the show was fantastic and I'd love to share it!



















The image below is from my solo show at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios last February. I didn't take the photo. I friend, Ashleigh Burke, took it with her incredible wide-angle lens. I didn't look at her images until very recently......just because I've been so busy working toward the show with the Decision Portrait Series scheduled for this fall. I'm glad I waiting because her photos have inspired me to keep plugging away with the free motion machine embroidery on the chiffon banners. The banners in the photo have collected epitaphs. The banners I'm currently stitching are filled with "decisions".....like....."Should I wear the red shirt or the blue one?" and "Am I too drunk to drive" and "Where should I scatter my mother's ashes" and "Should I sleep with my boss" and "Do I believe in God", etc. I'm planning on having forty-eight banners. Thus far, I have sixteen complete.....and three months to go!


















The photos below are from this past Monday. There was a cancellation at Camp Wonder Hands, a one week camp in South Carolina for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, K- 12. They were in need of a morning art instruction. I filled in and had a most illuminating experience. By the way, I do have a lady sharing her decision to become a sign language interpreter for the Decision Portrait Series. The kids were great and very, very creative!



(Above and below: Photos from last Monday's morning at Camp Wonder Hands, a week long camp for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Click on images to enlarge.)



(Above and below: More photos from Camp Wonder Hands. Click on images to enlarge.)




























(Above, full image and below, detail: In Box LXVII. Free motion machine embroidery and soldering. Framed: 35" x 23". Click on image to enlarge.)

I took a break from my Decision Portrait Series in order to create another "In Box" series piece for the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville. This is a fabulous place....and they are wonderfully selling my work....even one of my large faux-stained glass fiber pieces. Thus, they needed new work and I was only too happy to create more!





















And now for another DECISION PORTRAIT!  This is BUCKLE UP! 

























(Above:  Buckle Up, Decision Portrait.  Stitched words:  Saved by the belt.  Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin.  Unframed 25" x 19"; framed 31" x 25".  Hand beaded and stitched.  Click on image to enlarge.)

 I've completed several new Decision Portraits. Every time I finish one I write to the person (people) who shared the decision. This gives each participant the opportunity to see the work before it is posted and to make suggestions about the statement that will accompany it on the Internet. I've actually got a "back log" of portraits waiting to be shared because I thought it was a good idea to only post every other day. Now, however, I accidentally okayed a new blogger template that I don't understand. It isn't uploading all my photos. It will not allow me to type while the images are being attached. I can't seem to understand the new spacing. The entire look of my blog is different. I don't think I like it. If anyone understands how this new thing works....PLEASE HELP ME. I've been trying to post for over three hours and am FRUSTRATED.

Yet, I've manage to get this new piece available. It is important. Please let me know what you think of the work and of the "new look" to my blog.  So here is the statement:

In thirty-one states and the District of Columbia, there is a "primary" seat belt law.  This means that a law enforcement officer can stop and ticket a driver without any other traffic offense taking place.  In eighteen other states there is a "secondary" seat belt law.  This means that the police officer may issue a ticket for not wearing a seat belt only when there is another citable traffic infraction. New Hampshire alone has no such law (except for children under 18....and then, it's a law too!)  I got this information HERE.

Above:  Buckle Up, detail.  Click on image to enlarge.)

Still, lots of people don't buckle up.  Steven Hewitt did.  It saved his life.  This talented artist has some permanent bodily damage but is able to continue making wonderful art and enjoying his fabulously artistic family.  Check out their website.....and BUCKLE UP.  It's a good decision to make!

Midwife, Decision Portrait Series

(Above: Midwife, Decision Portrait Series. Stitched words: Delivering Babies at home....including mine. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand beaded and stitched. Click on image to enlarge.)

Peggy Vincent is an amazing woman whose story unfolds over the pages of her memoir, Baby Catcher, Chronicles of a Modern Midwife. I was introduced to her over the Internet by Dawn Goldsmith who writes the Subversive Stitchers blog and also wrote a captivating interview of Peggy on the Crescent Blues website.


(Above: Midwife, Decision Portrait Series. Detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

For twelve years after graduating from Duke with a degree in nursing, Peggy worked in more traditional labor and delivering rooms. Around 1976, the "alternative birth phenomena" gained wider acceptance and Peggy became the first director of the Alternative Birth Center in the East Bay area around San Francisco. She said, "Quickly I came to realize that I needed to become a midwife in order to be true to my determination to protect women from the relentless use of obstetrical technology that was undermining their confidence in themselves." Since then, she's delivered more than 2500 babies....a had a child at home herself! Peggy has since retired but her writing and influence are still going strong through those she inspired. To visit the Baby Catcher website, please CLICK HERE!

Broken Nest, Decision Portrait

(Above: Broken Nest, Decision Portrait Series. Stitched words: Threw an unruly child OUT. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed. Hand stitched and beaded. Click on image to enlarge.)

Some decisions are particularly difficult. When facing them, none of the options are really desirable. Years later, the decision still is unsettling.....but had to be made. These are the bittersweet choices that life seems to dole out....often to the nicest, most understanding, and compassionate people. This is one of those decisions.


(Above: Broken Nest, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

As an artist, I've been looking for people to share these sorts of painful decisions. It took several email messages and some gentle urging to stitch this portrait. I stressed how it would touch many people. It would let other mother's with difficult kids know they're not alone. We corresponded about the title and the words because, as harsh as the truth is, the portrait needs to carry a message of hope, love, and a sense of the complexities involved. I think the results do just that.


(Above: Broken Nest, detail.)

The wonderful lady who reluctantly shared this decision and I have several things in common. She threw an unruly child out of her house. She had to do it. She didn't want to do it. The memory of it haunts her. Loving such a child is very, very difficult. I know. I, too, am the mother of a difficult child. It's been over two years since my younger son defiantly left home. He's an uninsured, unemployed high school drop out. I don't know where he lives but he recently got my business logo, (Mouse House....just imagine....a "mouse" depicted on the outline of a "house") tattooed on his leg. Both of us have suffered the inevitable "What if I'd done this?" and "Was I the worst mother on earth?" sort of mental questioning. Both of us are familiar with the concept of a "broken nest". She gives me hope though. There's been a reconciliation in her family....but things will never be the same.



We have something else in common. We both are firm believers in Julia Cameron 's The Artist's Way. We believe that serendipity actively plays a role in our lives. It played a role in this portrait too. When corresponding about the title and words for this portrait, my parents visited.....and brought the dove feathers they'd found in the woods around their home. Perfect detail at the perfect time! The day I finished the portrait, my artistic mentor (whose studio is just around the hall from mine) insisted I come outside to see the baby birds that were under the nearby scrubs......three doves! I always share the finished portraits with each participant before posting here on my blog. This is what she wrote back: "I do so believe in the serendipity of life. Doves have been frequenting my house this summer in large numbers!"

I'm considering these signs of peace to come.

Making a Difference, Decision Portrait

(Above: Making a Difference, Decision Portrait. Stitched words: I helped found a public charter school. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19", unframed; 31" x 25", framed. Hand embroidery and beading. Click on image to enlarge.)

South Carolina ranks in the bottom of just about every education poll ever published. We're at the tail end for literacy, percentage of students fulfilling graduation requirements, and in almost every subject tested. It's pathetic. Lots of people complain...and complain....and complain. Many families send their kids to private schools. Others move for "better" school districts. Very few people are willing to take positive action.


(Above: Making a Difference, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Jeannie Eidson didn't complain. She helped found a public charter school where a diverse student population learns in an atmosphere of kindness, respect, and active participation of everyone involved. Its called the Carolina School for Inquiry. It was my privilege to stitch her portrait and my hope that others will consider how they might MAKE A DIFFERENCE too!

Childless, Decision Portrait

(Above: Childless, Decision Portrait. Stitched words: My hysterectomy forever changed my life. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed. Hand embroidery and beading. Click on image to enlarge.)

Some decisions are permanent....absolutely and completely final. No action can undo the results of these decisions. Everything changes from that moment on. A hysterectomy is like that.


(Above: Childless, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

I've known this kind, sharing, civic-minded lady for years. I knew she didn't have any kids but I didn't know why. I didn't know about the health issues and the "ticking clock" that many women hear as they age. I didn't know about a divorce either.....until she volunteered to share this most important decision with me for this artistic series. Having a hysterectomy ended an earlier expectation of life. It also set into motion a new, fulfilling life....once she got past the final reality of the decision. The portrait reflects the ambiguous nature of such a monumental decision.....bittersweet.


(Above: Childless, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Working toward a goal is so much fun!

(Above: Free motion embroidery on Mokuba adhesive coated, water soluble stablizer. Click on image to enlarge.)

I'm working toward an amazing goal....a solo exhibition at the prestigious City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston. My Decision Portrait Series was selected for this great opportunity. I had fifty finished. I needed ninety. I've had great help along the way, including a fantastic blog post by Dawn Goldsmith at Subversive Stitchers. The response has been fantastic. I'm pretty much there....though I'm still waiting for either a model's release or a digital photo from a few contacted people. I don't think I can accept any more people and still get the work stitched! (Except, I'll "burn the midnight oil" for Divorced (must be both former husband and wife) with stitched words: Irreconcilable Differences and anything to do with aging/beauty.....such as regular tanning, having botox, or any optional cosmetic surgery.....liposuction, face lift, etc.

I've been finishing and posting portraits nearly every other day. The work is coming along excellently. Thank you to everyone who has written with a compliment or note of encouragement. It means so much.

I'd like to share a few adventures I had just last week while securing some of the last portraits:


1) I went to a drag queen show. It started at midnight. It was a blast. I don't think I've ever owned as much make-up cumulatively in my entire life....never owned or wore fake eyelashes....had an excellent conversation, shot dozens of photos, and got the model's release signed by Carla, a really great guy in drag. (That's not Carla above....it was the only "live action shot" that wasn't totally blurry!)

2) I witnessed one of the greatest acts of courage done in the name of the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Through this charity, Jillian raised money for children's cancer research. How? She had her head shaved...totally bald. She doesn't even know a child with cancer. She's a loving, generous soul who cares deeply. I couldn't do this....but I collected all the hair in order to use it on the portrait. I also have video!

3) I met with a self-proclaimed pastor....a homeless man that tries to bring awareness to the plights of other homeless people in the area. (No photo except the ones for the upcoming portrait.....yes, he decided to be homeless and intends to remain homeless even though he could choose not to be!)

The holiday weekend was a great time to spend nearly twelve hours a day working. I now have a routine.....stitch a chiffon banner, then stitch at least half a portrait, repeat!

So.....here's the progress report on the chiffon banners with "decisions" written on them:


I cut 16" widths of Mokuba's adhesive coated, water soluble stabilizer into 1" strips. I apply them to the chiffon and free motion stitch.



Between each word and punctuation, I allow a couple of inches of the thread to dangle. When I first started stitching sheer chiffon banners in this method, I'd often get the bobbin thread tangled. Now.....the movements are nearly second nature. Each "start" and "end" of a word is delicately back stitched. Thus, I can clip the threads after each "decision" without the words unraveling.



After I clip the front, I flip the chiffon banner and clip the reverse.....then apply another 1" strip of the adhesive stabilizer and stitch the next "decision". The result is that the decisions alternate, up faces one direction and the next faces the opposite direction.



I hung one in the atrium at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, just outside my studio door. Each banner is 12 - 14 feet in length....thus, it touches the floor here. The two story space inside City Gallery at Waterfront Park is going to great!



Above is a view looking up at the banner....to the oversize, custom coat hanger I recently had made. I drew a template for John Sharpe for this coat hanger. It's for a Grave Rubbing Art Quilt idea. Fortunately, he made two. The second one is PERFECT for storing these chiffon banners. After all, there is going to be 48 of them!



Currently, there are nine done.....that's 39 to go! Folded over the strong metal, custom coat hanger, the chiffon banners are now hanging in my studio.

And....one more project.....SOCKS! Thanks so much to Marty in Auburn, NY who sent some of the socks below! Yes....I'm still collecting for a public art event planned for this coming November! Any other unpaired, lost, totally worn socks are welcome to join these! Mail them to 2123 Park Street, Columbia, SC 29201!

On Fighting Cancer I and II, Decision Portraits

(Above: On Fighting Cancer I, Decision Portrait. Stitched words: Mastectomy Over Chemotherapy. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19", unframed; 31" x 25", framed. Hand embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: On Fighting Cancer II, Decision Portrait. Stitched words: Chemo and Radiation over Mastectomy. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19", unframed: 31" x 25", framed. Hand embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

On St. Patrick's Day Dawn Goldsmith published an amazing blog post on her Subversive Stitchers site about my Decision Portrait Series and my need for "models". She included my entire "wish list". Within almost no time at all, fiber artists from all over the world responded....including Gerrie and Jane. In fact, their email messages popped into my "in box" within fifteen minutes of one another....and that's how I determined which was "I"/one and which was "II"/two.

These two works are inseparable for me. Why? Because these ladies, both fiber artists, faced the same horrible problem. They made two equally good but completely different decisions. I will display them flanking Solidarity which carries the words: I shave my head to support those with breast cancer. To view this portrait, click HERE.


(Above: On Fighting Cancer I, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Together, these portraits illustrate the complexities of dealing with breast cancer. There are options. For some, one treatment is better than another; For others, the exact opposite is true.


(Above: On Fighting Cancer II, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

The Decision Portrait Series isn't about "right" or "wrong". It is about the decisions....especially the difficult decisions. Personally, I don't know what I would do if confronting breast cancer. I guess I'd listen to my doctors, get second opinions, consult my family, weigh the odds....just like these brave ladies did. I hope people seeing the work in the upcoming exhibit quietly ask themselves, "What would I do?" and "How can I show support".

Please also visit Gerrie Congdon's excellent website and blog. Please also visit Jane Compeau's blog. Their work is GREAT!

Late Night Driver, Decision Portrait Series

(Above: Late Night Driver, Decision Portrait. Stitched words: 1979 - 2008; Fell asleep at the wheel. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand embroidered and beaded. Click on image to enlarge.)

The Decision Portrait Series blog includes a "wish list" of portraits I'd like to stitch. I created this blog over a year ago but knew that some of the "decisions" were going to be very difficult to find. After all, how does one locate a person who decided to drive when actually too tired to successfully navigate the road? My research lead me to the South Carolina Highway Patrol Fatality Memorial Website. (This is Jesse's page.)

I found Jesse M. Sainz IV. Facebook lead me to Jesse's sister. Then I met his mother. We worked together in order to create this portrait. Their hope is that Jesse will never be forgotten and that his tragic choice might cause someone to think about the wisdom of driving while too tired. This is my hope too. My husband and my artistic mentor both confessed times that they escaped Jesse's end....too tired to drive but behind the wheel.


(Above: Late Night Driver, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

I stitched the words in threads that don't have much contrast with Jesse's formal wear. I want his smiling face to draw viewers from a distance, from across the art gallery. The birth and death dates will become obvious before the phrase. It will make people come even closer. This is my way of bringing people face to face with this decision, up front, close and personal...something to remember and heed.

Jesse's mother wrote the following on the SC Highway Patrol Fatality Memorial website:

The tragic death of my 29 year old son will forever leave me with a broken heart. Jesse had recently taken a management position at Wild Wing at Sandhills and was on his way home from working a double shift. He was very tired and left Wild Wing around 3:15 a.m. and apparently fell asleep behind the wheel and left the road around 3:40 a.m. and was killed instantly. Needless to say my entire family will never be the same again.

Jesse was such a fun loving person and never met a stranger. We miss his personality which was so upbeat, happy go lucky and always smiling and making others laugh. He had the most beautiful smile that I will never forget. He could be having the worse day of his life and we'd go to cheer him up but he'd find a way to make us laugh. If Jesse had a penny for everytime he made others laugh he would have died a millionaire. These are just a few of the things everyone will miss about Jesse. The emptiness in our hearts will forever be present. No holiday will ever be the same for us. Jesse had so many friends and leaves behind so many people that miss him every day. He also leaves behind a sister, Jessica, who was so very close to her only sibling and feels so lost without him. His Grandparents are so devastated as Jesse was the first grandchild and has such a special place in their hearts.

We will miss our Jesse and his positive spirit, upbeat personality, and his smile which is as big as his heart. Jesse loved unconditionally and always made others feel as though he was their best friend.

Runaway, Decision Portrait Series.

(Above: Runaway, Decision Portrait Series. Stitched words: At 15 I hitch hiked to NYC. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand embroidered and beaded. 25" x 19" unframed; 31" x 25" framed. Click on image to enlarge.)

Jean Bourque is a talented visual artist living in Columbia, South Carolina and enjoying Internet connections with people all over the globe using her blog and every networking system currently available. She's very productive, very reliable, very professional, and actively promotes art everywhere. Jean is always helping other artists too. She's helped me find "models" for several Decision Portraits and volunteered for this one, Runaway.

At first I couldn't believe it! How could this intelligent, even tempered, dependable, hardworking artist have ever been a runaway? Had she once been a "troubled teenager" or some sort of social outcast? Had she been failing in school, disruptive at home, or come from an abusive family? All these stereotypical ideas of a "runaway" flooded my brain.


(Above: Runaway, Decision Portrait Series. Detail.)

CONFRONTING INCORRECT STEREOTYPES IS AN IMPORTANT CONCEPT IN THIS SERIES.

I know this! It is my series after all! I talk about stereotypes all the time.....how this series is meant to get people THINKING about the decisions made by others, especially the ones that challenge stereotyped ideas. This one challenged me. I didn't understand that runaways leave home for all sorts of reasons....not just the "bad ones".


(Above: Runaway, detail, including inset of Jean at age 15. Click on image to enlarge.)

Jean was a good student, well adjusted, and mature for her age when she hitch hiked to New York City. She was fifteen years old and wanted to protest against the Viet Nam war in which her father was fighting. She earned a living as best she could, often stitching the fancy, floral based embroidery designs popular on bell-bottomed jeans and matching denim jackets. She was gone for nearly two years. She looks back on those days as a time of youthful passion, heightened creativity, and bravery beyond the norm. I selected the decorative Indian appliques for the piece because they remind me of just the sort of thing one might use to ornate a pair of Levi's! Please visit Jean's blog HERE!

Husband II, Decision Portrait

(Above: Husband II, Decision Portrait Series. Stitched words: I put my wife through law school. Unframed 25" x 19"; framed 31" x 25". Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. Hand embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

Patrick Parise is a wonderful artist, a master print-maker, and devoted to his family. His wife Sandi runs her own law firm and enjoys well-earned respect and admiration from her peers in the legal field. They met in college, got married, and were trying to support themselves working in food service positions. Of course, they were barely getting by. I relate to "those days". Steve and I tried it too; something had to give! Lots of young newlyweds work in low paying, under appreciated positions. Perhaps that's why so many marriages end in divorce; financial problems cause too much friction......but......now back to Patrick and Sandi.


(Above: Husband II, Decision Portrait Series. Detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Sandi had an opportunity to work in the public defender's office....as a secretary, nothing particularly special...a little more money....but importantly, the opportunity to see what other, better jobs entailed. One day, she told Patrick that she thought she could do a lawyer's job; she wanted to go to law school. Patrick's reply, "Will it make you happy?" She said, "Yes!"

Without hesitation, Patrick found a way....taking more shifts, moonlighting, working several jobs to keep Sandi in school. He has supporter her every dream, including setting up her own practice. He maintains the house. He was a hands-on parent to their only child, a daughter....who he's now helping put through law school!

Patrick Parise is also a brilliant man, articulate, educated, and talented. He could have been anything he wanted to be....and he is exactly that....someone's soul mate....for over thirty years of marriage. Please visit Patrick's website. His artwork is as meticulous and beautiful as the man who created it!

By the way, this portrait is titled Husband II because, obviously, there's another one called Husband! The first piece has stitched words reading: I loved her for 45 years, the last 15 with MS. The background includes (repeated): In sickness and in health 'til death do us part. To see this portrait, click HERE.

Lasik Eye Surgery, Decision Portrait

(Above: Lasik Eye Surgery, Decision Portraits. Stitched words: The best thing I ever did for myself. Xylene photo transfer on tea-stained muslin. 25" x 19", unframed; 31" x 25", framed. Hand embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

This portrait is of my dear friend Dolly Patton, Executive Director of Saluda Shoals Foundation which supports Saluda Shoals Park ....a wonderful riverfront place with paved and unpaved hiking and biking trails, an environmental center, several picnic shelters, a state-of-the-art conference center, and a kayak/canoe/boat launch. This is a public, non-profit organization. Dolly has been working in the non-profit world for longer than I've known her. (I've known her for over fifteen years.) She writes grants, organizes incredible events, and gives amazing presentations that simply make people want to donate funds. Everything Dolly seems to do is "for someone else" or "for charity" or "to benefit a worthwhile cause". Dolly is one of those super nice people that tries everyday to please every one. Dolly is selflessly nice.


(Above: Lasik Eye Surgery, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

When I posted the idea for this portrait on the Decision Portrait Series blog, I suggested stitched words reading: 20/20 Vision. I also didn't know that Dolly had undergone this procedure but she follows my artwork. Recently, she was part of my Artist's Way group too. When we talked about this decision, Dolly said she'd worn glasses since grade school. Yet, she wanted to wake up in the morning able to see her alarm clock. She also said....not once but twice...."It's the best thing I ever did for myself".


(Above: Lasik Eye Surgery, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

This statement struck me with its importance. The decision to have Lasik eye surgery is an optional one. It is something one really does for oneself! It also takes courage. Dolly doesn't often put herself first, but she bravely did when making this decision. I'm not half as nice as Dolly nor am I half as brave. Today I made an eye doctor appointment. It's time for a new eyeglass prescription!