RILEY

10x14 oil on canvas nfs

I love this story, so I hope you will bear with me because I'm a little long winded.

A couple of years ago I was in a plein air painting workshop offered through SMU, I met some great artists who all around are just terrific people. Our last class was a weekend trip to a lakehouse owned by one of the SMU artists, and now another great friend. It was a fantastic weekend and 2 of my all time favorite landscapes came out of that last class. Since it was about a 2 hour drive to the lakehouse, my husband and I decided to make a weekend out of it and we stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast. After painting all day Saturday, we had a party at the lakehouse where we enjoyed a great evening and all the spouses finally got to meet. One of my new friends from the class was a gentleman named Ron and he brought his wife, JoEl for the weekend trip. They just happened to be staying at the B&B with us, but at the time we didn't know that they were across the hall from us. So, we're all hanging out, drinking wine, eating great food and someone asks JoEl where they live in the Dallas area. I was listening to the conversation and was surprised to learn that they live in the neighborhood right next to ours and the way the 2 neighborhoods nest together, we're almost backyard neighbors! The next thing I knew the 4 of us were involved in a very long conversation, busy learning more about each other.

The next morning we had breakfast together in the B&B dining room downstairs and as we enjoyed the "it's a small world" conversation, we learned that in the last 25+ years our paths had crossed many, many times, but it took the last class of a 6 week semester class at SMU and a 2 hour drive outside of town for us to finally get to know each other. Since then we have become the best of friends, we've dined together, traded recipes and parenting tips, and Ron and I have painted together many times. It's such a small world after all, and there's just plain good folks in this world!

So, what in the world does this painting of Riley have to do with that long-winded story? My husband, Jay contacted Ron about purchasing a painting for me as a surprise. Well, when Jay tried to purchase the painting, Ron would not have any of his money and insisted Jay had to take the landscape as a "gift". So, of course my ding-bat, but adorable and darling husband, accepted the gift and I was mortified...but happy, too. You can see my beautiful Ron Sullivan landscape here and the rest of Ron's outstanding website here.

So, my "gift" to Ron and JoEl is this painting of their cat, Riley!