Visiting with BJ

There is an organization in Duncan called The Gabriel House. It is an after school program for under-privileged kids. They have all sorts of activities for the kids including an art program. This year they are short funded. The Painted Ladies have been asked to help put on an art auction to raise money. I don’t know how much money art will bring in, but that is not my problem. My part is to ask other artists to donate paintings. That may sound fairly simple, but you would not believe the excuses that people come up with so as not to help out. I find many artists to be temperamental or maybe just mental.

I did have one interesting artist encounter yesterday. A lady named BJ Archer was on my list of artist to call. I have met BJ, but she is an older lady and never remembers me, and I admit that we have never had any real conversation. Talking to her on the phone was rather confusing. She wanted to donate a painting. The problem was that she thought one of her paintings at a local gallery would work best. She asked me to pick up the painting and bring it to her so she could make a decision. I complied. I ended up staying at her house for over an hour looking at her paintings, her studio and listening to her stories. At 81, she had some stories. She told me how she came to be an artist. She had lived in Taos, but had been very lonely and felt out of place there. I can understand that. Taos is another world – a third world country. Anyway, it was fun to visit with BJ. She is an excellent artist whom I have admired at past shows. She donated a very nice painting, I thought it would be okay to share it with you since she did donate it. Here is "The High Road to Taos."