Dee A

I was walking around during one of our town’s “Art in the Park” events, when a painting caught my eye. The colors were vibrant and the image of a girl with one arm wrapped around her knees, the other hand on her head, captivated me. I was drawn to it immediately. “I want it- don’t sell it!”, my mind screamed, while still caught up in conversation with other artists about their work. 

Finally, I walked over and inquired. Dee proceeded to tell me the whole story about the painting: how she was inspired to create it and what it meant to her. We then somehow got onto the subject of this project and next thing you know, she’s interested in participating. Oh, and she gave me a good deal, so I walked off with the painting. 

Dee’s greatest passion and love is art. Besides painting, she also engages in photography and writes books, primarily for children with special needs. She herself has a son with autism. She also writes a lot about being bullied, as she experienced that quite a bit growing up. 

Being a country gal, one of Dee’s big loves is nature. “If I could, I would live in a tree,” she told me and we both laughed as we envisioned how to make that a reality. For Dee, trees and flowers are one of her favorite subjects. She uses big bold colors that practically pop off the canvas. I couldn’t help myself. I ended up buying another one of her paintings (shown here). Can you blame me?

Added to her list of loves is God, with whom she has a very strong connection as evidenced in several of her paintings, and in her books, some of which use the scripture as inspirational messages.

After reviewing Dee's list, I asked her if she had any physical features she wanted to include. She mentioned many she disliked, but finally, after much cajoling, she landed on her eyes. Because she had been wearing sunglasses when I met her, I really hadn’t been able to see her eyes until the day of the photo shoot. I couldn’t believe their wild, exotic color – couldn’t believe how beautiful her eyes were especially considering how hard it had been for her to finally agree to add them to her list. Well, sort of add them. She didn't get around to mentioning them in her video. 

This was yet another reminder of why I do this project: to get women to acknowledge and appreciate their very personal and unique external and internal beauty, their magnificence, as I like to call it. 

After the shoot, Dee did confess that this project has made her become more aware of herself and the great qualities she possesses, both inside and out. I salute her and couldn’t be more joyful.