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Dear Friends:
I’m back in St. Petersburg, Florida, for two weeks of intense painting time. Although I paint wherever I am, I have to say that my favorite studio is the one in St. Petersburg. There’s something about the light here that I just love. Florida is glad I’m back, because I’ve brought rain with me. Apparently, it’s been very dry here, at least until my return on Sunday.
When I arrived at my home in St. Petersburg, I found a meeting of the Moss Pelicans Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society in full swing. They even had a birthday party for me to celebrate my May 20 birthday. During the meeting, the chapter members discussed our plans to send two local teachers to the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education’s Annual Creative Minds Conference that will be held this October 23-25 at the American Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. The Foundation holds an education conference each year and invites educators across the nation to join us as we bring presenters together to discuss techniques, strategies, and lesson plans for incorporating the arts into the curriculum of every child. There is a focus on finding new and original methods in teaching children who learn differently.
Celebrating my birthday with the Moss Pelicans Chapter in St. Petersburg. Thanks, Moss Pelicans!This year’s plan to send two, an art teacher and a reading teacher, was the suggestion of the chapter’s 2008 Creative Minds scholarship recipient Dara Vance. Dara is an art teacher in an alternative high school in Pinellas County, Florida, and has shared what she learned at last year’s conference with numerous educators in Pinellas County following her return. The Moss Pelicans Chapter is holding a raffle for a framed original watercolor to help raise the funds to send two this year.
I finally have my very own John Deere! This lawnmower is my birthday present from my daughter Patty and her friend Mary Morgan. They have a big, red Massey Ferguson tractor, and I always tease them about not having a green tractor in the yard. The teasing will stop now!Before leaving for Florida, my daughter Patty and I went to Warrenton, Virginia, for my show with Framecraft on May 16. What a beautiful, historic place! Warrenton is in Fauquier County, which has a rich history dating back to the 1600’s. Named after Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Virginia from 1758 to 1768, Fauquier County was founded in 1759 from a section of land previously considered part of Prince William County. Today, Fauquier is considered the heart of hunt and wine country. On May 1, 2009, the County officially celebrated its 250th Anniversary.
Many historic figures have called Fauquier and the Town of Warrenton their home. John Marshall, who was born in what is now Fauquier in 1755, was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Nancy Hanks Lincoln, born in Fauquier in 1784, was the mother of President Abraham Lincoln. She was baptized in Broad Run Baptist Church, which still retains her baptismal record. Born in Fauquier in 1828, Turner Ashby was a Confederate cavalry general during the Civil War and served as General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s cavalry commander in the Shenandoah Valley until he was killed in battle in 1862. James Markham Marshall Ambler was born in Fauquier in 1848 and was a soldier in the Confederate Army as well as a physician on the Arctic exploring ship U.S.S. Jeanette. Known as the “Gray Ghost,” John Singleton Mosby was a Confederate Colonel in the Civil War and is best remembered for forming and commanding the 43rd Battalion, Partisan Rangers of the 1st Virginia Cavalry, also known as Mosby’s Men or Mosby’s Rangers. Col. Mosby lived for a time in Warrenton and is buried in the Warrenton Cemetery. His home in the town is now a museum and education center open to the public.
During the Civil War, the second Battle of Manassas took place about ten minutes (by today’s travel standards) from Fauquier. After the battle, about 1,800 wounded soldiers were brought to Warrenton to makeshift hospitals set up in businesses, churches, and homes. Additionally, Union General McClennan said farewell to his troops as Commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1862 from the balcony of the Warren Green Hotel in Warrenton.
The Warren Green Hotel is no stranger to history and is featured in my new print Teddy’s Ride that was released during Framecraft’s show. In January of 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt made the approximately 100-mile ride to Warrenton and back to Washington, DC, spending seventeen hours in the saddle, to prove a point. He had been criticized for issuing an order to the Navy Department that called for a ninety-mile riding test for officers to be completed within three days. The President felt the criticism was unjust and declared that he could accomplish in one day more than he had asked of the officers of the navy to undertake in three. While in Warrenton, Teddy and his traveling companions ate dinner at the Warren Green Hotel and later spoke to the crowd that had gathered at the news of his presence in town from the hotel’s balcony.
Will Yurgaitis was one of several town criers participating in Fauquier’s 250th Anniversary celebration on May 1. He came to Framecraft’s show to repeat his announcement of Teddy’s ride just for me. He did a fantastic job, and I’m so glad he came!Mark and Meleana Moore are the new owners of Framecraft and relatively new Moss dealers, but they’re off to a wonderful start. It was such a pleasure to be with them. Their positive attitudes and enthusiasm are infectious, and they are so gracious with their customers. I was very impressed with the gallery’s framing, too.
Members of Pat’s Blue Goose Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society volunteered to help with the show. The ladies helped Mark and Meleana with the show and also signed people up for memberships in the Society. Warrenton was having its Spring Festival Saturday, and there were throngs of people!My next show will be held June 4-5 in Roanoke, Virginia, with my friends at Graphics, Etc. Gallery owner Mary Ann Warren and I will release my new print Spring Together.
Spring Together will be released during my show with Graphics, Etc., in Roanoke, VA, June 4-5. For more information, please contact the gallery at 540-982-8441.I’m very grateful to Irene Howard and Charlene Carsrud of Nevada, Iowa, for their time, talent, and generosity in creating quilted wall hangings to use in future fundraising events for the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education. They created the wall hangings around my hand-painted fabric centerpieces, and they are breathtaking. Irene and Charlene are members of the Heart of Iowa Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society.
Charlene Carsrud (left) and Irene Howard (right) displayed their quilted wall hangings during the Heart of Iowa Chapter’s Annual Charity Tea on April 26.This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. Please take a moment to remember and give thanks to our armed forces for the sacrifices they make for our freedom and safety.
Love,
Pat
In addition to our military, we should also be thankful for our police officers and emergency service workers. They put in long hours, often called away from their own homes and families in the middle of the night to protect the lives and homes of others. No one knows this better than Cathy Williams, a member of my staff at The Moss Portfolio in Mathews, Virginia. Her husband John is a Master Detective with the Newport News Police Department.
Pictured together at the 16th Annual TOP COPS Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC, are John and Cathy Williams and their children Brandon (left) and Taylor (right).Last week John and his partner Master Detective Larry Rilee received Honorable Mention Awards at the National Association of Police Organizations’ 16th Annual TOP COPS Awards Ceremony that was held in Washington, DC. Together with Special Agent Chip Banks and Special Agent James Liscinsky with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives (ATF) and Special Agent Jessica Farrell with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), John and Larry solved the homicide of Ensign Cory Voss, U.S. Navy, and brought his murderers to justice.
Master Detectives John Williams (left) and Larry Rilee (right) of the Newport News Police Department.Thank you and congratulations!
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009