February 22nd, 2014
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As much as I love a good face, I love a good story too. John Hurt was discovered in 1928 and made a few recordings. He was much appreciated, but the depression struck, and he was forgotten for 36 years. He worked as field hand, picking cotton or corn, and working cattle. It wasn’t until 1963 that the world found him again. For the last 3 years of his life, he enjoyed a measure of fame including a featured spot at the Newport Blues festival.
My husband introduced his wonderful earthy music to our family in the early 1980’s, good music to raise children on. This is being reposted from 2012, as this painting is still available.
This is a hand-painted watercolor, 8.5″ x 11″ and it is for sale for $175.00.
If you’d like to buy it, use the paypal button below or contact me. All money received goes directly to endangered species conservation.

It seems that we have a family tradition, it is old time music. Donald’s mother remembers her own grandfather playing fiddle tunes. My son is lucky enough to own the fiddle he played them on.
Little did we know that so many years ago that old time music would bring so many different parts of our family together and provide a common language across the generations. A little Irish, a little Appalachian, a little gospel, and a little northwest can describe this kind of music – mostly instrumental, with a few songs thrown in. This painting shows cousins and a grand-daughter; they know the same tunes.

I was entranced by 1935 photo of a young man playing his guitar. I thought it would be fun to paint him. I tried it once and was very unhappy with how it came out. So I waited until after I attended a wonderful watercolor workshop by Ted Nuttall and tried again. This time, it came out the way I like. He’s playing a G chord. In my life music has always been a big element. This painting is an attempt to express those feelings.
This painting is still for sale and I have a print of it for sale as well.

The second of this series, I called the Red Hots, I wish I knew their real name. It’s from a 1938 photo taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Administration. Apparently, the photo was taken in the town where Tabasco hot sauce was made. This painting is sold, but I have prints and postcards available.