P. Buckley Moss e-newsletter

Dear Friends:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It has been a wonderful time for working; so quiet. Living alone as I do, there are no interruptions, and working in my studio is a pleasure. My studio is full of different things I’m working on. I have some oils, some acrylics, and lots of watercolors, of course. Whatever the spirit moves me to work on when I get up in the morning is what I do.

One of the pieces I’ve been working on is a painting of The Don CeSar Hotel, which will be released during my show with the Finn Gallery here in St. Petersburg, Florida, March 9-11. The Don CeSar has been known as Florida’s Legendary Pink Palace since its opening in 1928. It instantly attracted some of the era’s most famous people, from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Al Capone. The New York Yankees signed a three-year spring training contract in 1931, helping The Don through the Great Depression. In 1942, the U.S. Army seized the hotel and used it as a hospital throughout the duration of World War II; and, in 1944 The Don became an Air Force convalescent center. One year later, the luxurious hotel interior was stripped bare and painted “government green” as The Don endured its next incarnation as the regional office for the Veteran’s Administration. The last of the federal offices abandoned the property in 1969, and it remained derelict until it was purchased in the early 1970’s. After a costly restoration, The Don reopened as a hotel in 1973. After two more expensive renovations in the 1990’s and in 2001, Florida’s Legendary Pink Palace was back with all its glory in time for its 75th anniversary in 2003. Today, it reigns supreme on St. Pete Beach.

The Graceful Lady features The Don CeSar Hotel, which will be released during my show with the Finn Gallery here in St. Petersburg, Florida, March 9-11. For more information, please contact the gallery at 727-894-2899.

A couple weeks ago, I had a very special visitor. Malachi Bay is a student at Northside Christian School who was doing an art project on me. I was delighted to meet him and his mother, and I answered his questions and gave him a tour of my home and the Finn Gallery. He returned last week to show me his finished project, which was most impressive. He put a lot of thought and work into it.

I was delighted that Malachi returned with his project to show me.

Each panel of Malachi’s display contained pictures and information about me and my work and the Finn Gallery.

Malachi included a panel of pictures taken during his tour with me. He said that the blue turtle (lower left corner) was his favorite print.

In last week’s newsletter I wrote about having a mini-reunion with past members of the P. Buckley Moss Society’s Board of Directors. This week I have a picture to show you of everyone. It was more like a family reunion, and we all enjoyed being with one another again.

Past members of the P. Buckley Moss Society’s Board of Directors and their spouses joined me for a mini-reunion in St. Petersburg, FL, last week. Front row, L. to R.: Marlyn DeWaard, Ginger Cloonan (seated), and Doris Henning. Middle row, L. to R.: Marj Meyers, Fred McMillin, Mary Lou McMillin, Jean Smith, and Marlene Ham. Back row, L. to R.: Me, George Johnson, Dick Binnig, Art Smith, Noreen Newman Johnson, Hannes Meyers, Jr., and Rev. Harold Henning.

As many of you know, I gave Barren Ridge Vineyards in Fishersville, Virginia, permission to use two of my images on their wine labels. My Love Eternal image is on their Harmony wine label, and Winter’s Fellowship is on their Tinkling Spring wine label. Barren Ridge Vineyards donates fifty cents from the sale of each of these wines to the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education, and I am delighted to report that they just sent the Foundation a check for $2,870.50 for last year’s sales. A huge thank-you on behalf of the Foundation to Barren Ridge Vineyards!

’Til next week…

Love,
Pat

Past Issues