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Dear Scott,
The wipers in my pickup truck needed replacing. They struggled in the downpour and I had to lean strong to the passenger side to hear her words. Captured in a moment of transparency Kathie said of the woman with hat in hand,
It’s that moment when you realize you’re a grown-ass woman, and that life doesn’t always bring you exactly what you want. But you’re glad to do what it brings you to do… and you want to do it well.
October of 2018 brought us to west Texas again. The week had come and gone for Kathie and the 30+ artists who came to paint big sky and cactus… and maybe sell a piece or two. But it’s their camaraderie and love of the landscape that keeps them returning.
The event ended on Sunday and the artists were thanked with an old-school 1880’s chuck wagon breakfast… grits, black coffee, eggs and every sort of pig product. The chef pulled out the fiddle, greased up the bow and the day-of-rest began to take hold.
One woman, dressed in period costume and coaxed a bit by the artists, agreed to model for the painters. Easels sprung open signaling a perfect day but Kathie chose to take some photos for that maybe-next painting and whispered,
Sometimes in life you just have to lean on a pole. Stand there. And breathe.
Two months later the Oregon Trail woman rose up out of Kathie’s canvas. She was someone’s daughter and someone’s mother, filled with both loss and hope. A woman whose world kept expanding as she adjusted her life into the next challenge. I said to Kathie, you are painting you.
Sure enough the image of our model faded into yesterday and Kathie embraced her work as I’ve never witnessed. A woman willing to explore, a woman of humble and generous heart, a woman finished with pettiness and a woman who never looks beyond the boundaries she’s been given.
There may not be a twinkle in the eye, Kathie concludes, but you always want to finish well. And look nice doing it.
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