I am dedicating this month's painting to my brand new granddaughter, Nevaeh Faith.  I wish many blessings to her mother Brittany, to Lisa, her maternal grandmother, to Pam, her paternal grandmother, of course my son, Jonathan.  Below is the story of how this painting is connected to this new life.  Enjoy.

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I believe sometimes God blesses us with promises of things to come in order to provide Hope.  My May 2018 painting, "Nevaeh Sent" in literally a 'picture' of that hope.  I was in a car in early April 2018 being taken by a hired driver to a medical appointment.  The driver and I was talking about animals and I told him animals were often my subject of my paintings.  He then began to talk about how much he loved Hummingbirds.  At that time, I realized I had never painted one and felt a sudden urge paint one.  But, I had 'met' one -- yes, met one.  It was about 2007/2008.  I lived in a cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia.  And one day, a hummingbird landed on me.  I was shocked.  This beautiful creature literally landed on my shoulder, hopped down my arm and onto my hand.

While he was there, I called my wife.  I took photos of him and sent those off to people to say, "Look at this beautiful bird that just landed on me".  While he sat there, he did not seem sick.  He was very relaxed.  I kept my hand he sat in, in the opened position, letting him know he was not my captive.  Well, after about 10 minutes of sitting there, he gave me a look, looked around and then up -- and quickly fluttered up into the trees.  I spotted him briefly and then off he went into the blue skies that morning, never to see him again (zoom into his eye to see how I painted that very reflection). 

Later, my wife and I talked about what that was all about.  Why did he visit?  We concluded he must have been tired and needed a break and I just so happened to be there.  And for some reason he felt safe landing on me for rest.  I also remember how calm he was and I simply thought -- 'no, I think he was Heaven-Sent'.  I believe this was God's way of communicating with me, giving me some wonderment of His creation to reflect upon.  I also believe after that brief moment of gazing into his eye, that creature went right back to Heaven, never to be seen again.  I recall how he looked; his colors, his demeanor, and the way he looked at me; as if he had something to say. 

I eventually left the Blue Ridge area and now live elsewhere.  But 3 of my sons still live there in Blue Ridge.  And well, on April 11, 2018, I received word that my son's daughter was born (earlier than expected).  And her name is Nevaeh.  Yes, that is the word Heaven spelled backwards.  And here I was painting this memory of a creature I believe returned to Heaven.  But now, here comes Nevaeh.  And as far as I'm concerned, this was God's way of reminding me that love only comes from one place -- God.  So, I named this painting "Nevaeh Sent' -- because I believe God put that thought in my mind at just the right moment in time to prepare my heart and fill it with love.  It caused me to realize the short meeting with His creature all those years ago was for one reason -- to provide Hope for this new life.  My granddaughter, Nevaeh is absolutely beautiful.  She has angelic features and my son is in complete Love with her! 

And so is her Grand-PaPa!  God's speed little one!

I am posting this painting on June 21, 2018.  It is my wife Vanessa's birthday.  Her name means "Butterfly".   The originally named genus of Vanessa butterflies is Admiral Red.  For this painting I did for her birthday, I changed the color to her favorite color, blue.  When I was researching these butterflies I made an interesting discovery about the origin of her name.  It came about through a secret love affair between the infamous 18th century poet, Dr. Jonathan Swift ("Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal").  He mentored a young lady and fell in love with her.  Her name was Esther Vanhomrigh.  To keep the love affair secret (due to public scrutiny; she was 22 years his junior), he created a neologism.  He took the first 3 letters of her last name, Van, and extended the first 2 letters of her first name, Es, to Essa -- thereby coining a name never before heard, Vanessa.  That was 1708.  

Course, since then Vanessa's name grew in popularity, but only after love letters between Swift and Esther's affair were published -- 3 years after his death.  Years later, an entomologist saw the name, liked it and used it for the new butterflies he had discovered.  

So, I told my wife about this research, after showing her the butterfly I painted for her and said, "You are from a poet and didn't know it!"

I love you Vanessa!  Happy Birthday baby!

Fall used to be my favorite season. Not any more.   Well, not since moving here to Minnesota.  Now, my favorite season is Winter.  This year, 2018, we are having a really nice amount of snow.  Course, people who've been here a little longer than I aren't so sure the snow is pleasant.  Recently, my wife and I have been taking walks.  St.Peter, MN is a small community and perfect for quiet walks. Last week was no exception.  We were bundled appropriately as the wind chill temps were in negative teens.  But that doesn't stop us. I took a lot of pictures knowing I'd use some of what I saw in my paintings. So, this is one. I made alterations from my original and gave it a night-time feel, but the thought is simple:  Natural beauty created by stillness and cold, but life indeed has once again found it's way along this magnificant "Winter Walk." 

I went to a Paul McCartney concert in 1990 and had a fabulous time.  I was never really a Beatles fan but always loved the music of Mr. McCartney.  When I saw him in May 1990, I recall the laser light show that accompanied his performance and remember a term he used -- 'tripping the light fantastic' -- think it may even have been a song (didn't Google this at this writing).  Well, the point is this -- I love the purple and blue hues.  I also love painting wildlife.  In this depiction, I wanted to mix these two loves.  The elephant is a magnificent, almost mystical being.  In my wildest imagination, I can envision God creating the elephant out of a mist of blues, purples, pinks, with a dash of orange, yellow and while.  And that is how I ended up with "Elephantastic"!