My Mother the Artist

I have written about some of the amazing people in my family - my dad and his new career as an actor, and my grandmother who is 96 years old and just published her 8th book - but I realized today that I have not written about my mom. She is pretty amazing herself. Clearly I'm the black sheep of this crew.

About 8 years ago my husband and I bought our first house in Denver, CO. It was a super cute house that was more than 100 years old. After buying the house and doing a few improvements we were out of money. I called my mother and asked her to paint us a picture for an empty wall because we couldn't afford art. My mother at that point had never painted anything and said she would give it a try. I didn't just pull this out of the blue, she is an incredibly creative woman and has always been able to draw so I figured she could paint as well.

So here we are, 8 years or so later and she makes a real living as an artist (www.joyrichardsonart.com)! She is often invited to hang her paintings in different galleries and restaurants and had an extremely successful showing in the Oklahoma Art Festival last year - and will be there again this year. She has people calling her often for commission works and she has made a name for herself as an artist. It is all really awe inspiring from a person who had never painted anything until they were about 60 years old.

You should see my house. It is like a Joy Richardson museum. I still have that first painting she did for us. It is hanging in our bedroom. I keep searching my mail box for my 10% commission check - afterall I am the one who got her started - but it just hasn't shown up yet. Hmmm...