Art heals...

6-year-old Z's painting from summer 2009

Today I had a wonderful conversation with my friend Mary. She's in her 70s, and recovering from some serious health problems. But she reports she is feeling stronger by the day and is counting her blessings.

Mary is one of the angels in my art journey. She alternately chides and cheers, always with the best intentions. She regularly sends me clippings from magazines, postcards, exhibit catalogs, books and more, usually with little messages scribbled in the margins and on scraps of paper tucked inside.

This week she sent me a book, "Watercolor by Design," by Marianne K. Brown. It was the right book at the right time. It affirmed the ideas I've been exploring in my paintings, gave me the language to explain my choices, and motivated me to keep going.

At a time when my friend Mary needs love and support, she loves and supports others in a thousand little ways.

Here are a few details about my friend Mary: She cherishes the paintings of John L. Wellington, she delights in birds, she adores the color red, and she dearly wishes she could work in her flower garden right now. It's spring, and she wants to feel the warm earth in her hands and coax colorful blooms into life.

But doctor's orders - she can't work in her garden. So she's turned her nurturing instincts to other outlets, scattering seeds of artistic inspiration everywhere she turns.

As the days pass and Mary grows stronger, she told me she feels her desire to paint is returning. After all, if she can't plant the tulips, she might as well paint some. And they'll be red tulips, of course.