Along Came a Little Bear 🧸
On Saturday, December 3, 2022, I drove toward Mobile, Alabama, to meet a family in a gas station parking lot. Through the open widow of my car the dad handed me a tiny canine who I first saw in a Facebook photo with the name Boy #2 written underneath. I named him Alexander Clayton Eugene Bear Keels, or simply Bear, for short.
I spent most of 2023 caring for this puppy who—now nearly two years old—still wakes me up during my prime sleeping hours and costs me way more money than I expected.
There were moments during his puppyhood when this guy was nearly re-homed, but we hung in there. And I couldn’t paint much as baby Bear required most of my time and attention. He is a big boy now. (I was told he would weigh eight pounds or so, yet he actually weighs a little more than 20.)
I absolutely adore Bear’s boundless energy, his intelligence, his hilarious personality, and I also now have time to paint. Life is good. ❤️
“No matter what, the sun will still come up in the morning.”
Who We Are
When most of the world shut down during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, I painted. Hours in the house by myself resulted in the production of more than 20 paintings. Over the last few years I have created many more.
I’ve always engaged in some form of artistic expression—calligraphy, creative writing, drawing, painting and sometimes photography. In 2020, pushing acrylic paint colors around on canvas kept me wonderfully occupied. Sometimes whimsical or joyful, sometimes sorrowful or angry, oftentimes expressing things I can’t find the words to say, the number of paintings multiplied in my quiet space.
Throughout the process I texted photos of these paintings in various stages of completion to friends and family all over the country. A few dear friends suggested that I share my work publicly and, with their support and encouragement, here we are now. Enjoy!