The Art of P. Buckley Moss

Hello Friends,

Another good week of studio time that in which, besides working on other paintings, I finished the convention painting "Virginia's Glory." If you study the photograph, you can see, I have added detail throughtout and used swaths of color to bring harmony and unity to the whole. Another painting near completion is of the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, which will be first released through Kenneth Paul Gallery in Urbandale sometime this spring. As you can see the animals are a departure from the my horses and geese.

Convention print.
"Virginia's Glory"

Blank Park Zoo painting.
Painting of Blank Park Zoo.

The diversion this week has been decorating the walls of the Old Folk's Home. Malcolm was part of the advance party whose task was to prepare the walls for us ladies to paint later in the week. By the afternoon of Tuesday, the preparation was completed and Malcolm returned home exhausted.

Malcolm prepares the walls for new paint.
Malcolm getting down to it.

Two days later, little did I think the rolling on of the base colors would tire me the way the scrubbing had tired Malcolm. However after two or three hours of working unaccustomed muscles, I was both tired and sore.

Mixing paint colors.
Experimenting with color mixes.

On Monday morning, we girls returned to paint palm trees and flowers and, in my case, a boy fishing. When we served Christmas dinner at the home, I had noticed one man sitting on his own at a small table set in front of a wall against which stood a disconnected washbasin. I decided to brighten this man's mealtimes and painted the happy boy at his favorite pastime, hoping that this will remind the old man of this youth and bring a smile to his face.

"I painted a boy fishing on the wall above the basin and decorated the table."

When we completed the work, we realized the project had been very worthwhile, not only for the Old Folks and the staff of the home but also for all of us. We learned things about each other we had not known from previous social conversation and the shared sense of achievement drew us closer together.

This week we are hosting a Valentine's Day party for about sixty Panamanians and Gringos. We are going to have two hams, ceviche, sushi and puff pastries stuffed with spinach. I am doing the hams and friends are preparing the other foods.

Although this has been a good week, it has been overshadowed by worries of terrorism. When Malcolm and I first came to Panama, those who love us had concerns for our safety. Now it is we who worry about them. Our prayers for peace are constant.

Talk to you again next week.
Love,
Pat