MY Early Days-18

This will be my next to the last day of "My Early Days".  In two days, I return to Jacksonville to relieve my dear friends that have so faithfully cared for my home.

Today, I'm presenting two paintings that I have copied from artists that I can not find represented on the internet.  Isn't that strange?

 

This first one is after an artist named Christian Barat who was born in 1939.  The name of the piece is Ramatulle and I painted it in 2006 on a 16x20 canvas.

This second one is after an artist named Francesco Casals.  I named this Agrumeto Cooper and painted it in 1984 on a 16x20 canvas.  Agrumeto is the word for Citrus Grove in Italian and Cooper is a dear friend of mine.  Mr. Casals named his simply The Orange Grove and painted it in 1980.  The reason I named it after my friend Cooper was he was a draftsman and had to help me square up the village before I painted it.  I just couldn't get all the little buildings laid out without his help.  I sure wish he was around to help me do this now but he lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.  We are still dear friends.

Yesterday, we went to Church and following had a luncheon presented by the men of the church.  I'll bet most of them had their wives prepare the meal!  Later in the afternoon, we were invited to a friend of Beverlys, and mine, Barbara Phillips and her husband Marian and their visiting daughter Kathy from New Orleans.  Barbara is an artist and last year when I was recovering from my broken ankle, she came to me, gave me some acrylic supplies, I had left mine at home, and gave me a lesson.  This year, I wanted to give her one of my paintings.  I was delighted she found two she wanted.  I expected her to take a small one as a token and when she took two and one was a 10x20, I was delighted.  Then, as a surprise to me, she gave me my choice of three of her paintings.  One was done in a folk art style which she had done many of.  That is what I choose and then it turned out to be her as a baby!

Needless to say, I was so honored.  Ever since I met Barbara, I wanted one of her paintings.  I really had no idea she would give me one that day!