SEW MIXED MEDIA DRAWING ON DISTRESSED, DICTIONARY PAGE

"Sew"

6" x 9" Mixed Media Drawing on Distressed, Dictionary Page

I grew up on a farm.  Paul Harvey's poem about God Made the Farmer which recently played on a commercial at the Super Bowl got me good - it totally described my father.  Growing up as a farming family also meant I had an equally determined and selfless mother.  She taught me everything from how to sew to the importance and value of education.  My mother was a wonderful seamstress as were many of her generation as well as my two, skilled sisters.  I doubt there is a Panhandle native who didn't grow up with a resourceful, inventive seamstress.

My mother passed away 13 years ago and it was her loss that spurred me on to change professions, leaving social work with addicts and alcoholics to become a teacher.  A dear neighbor lost her mother not that long ago and she asked me to create a sewing machine drawing in her mother's memory.  Her mother had been the Wall Mart sewing department lady for years and years.  I think it is a fitting tribute to a lot of strong women (and men folk, too) who take what little they have to fashion into what clothes and comforts us.

Thanks, Mother!