Dearest friend, now in Vancouver…an inspiration of faith, art and friendship.  Bob and I have known one another since my sabbatical in 1998, when I joined him for a third year program at ACAD.  He is a marvelous artist and during my final year of teaching, I commissioned him to paint me a magpie for each month of my final ten months of teaching.  The collection is awesome.  I have also acquired some other pieces over the years and will archive them on this page, so that I maintain a record.  Thank you, Bob, for your tremendous kindness and friendship over these years.  I cherish you.

At the bottom, you can see a winged angel that my daughter Erin made out of papier mache and sent from London, England as a Christmas gift years ago.  I will always treasure that her heart went into creating this angel for me.  I love you, dear daughter.

Another painting that Bob did for me, is based literally on my drawing professor and friend’s window…Argenta, B.C.  I am sad that I don’t have a piece of Pauline’s work, but Pauline McGeorge remains firmly in my heart always!

We wrote cards and letters once and a while, Pauline to me…me to Pauline.  I held her fast in my heart from the time she  taught me to draw; she taught me to see.  When I think about the fragments that are written and contained here, in a floating capsule of the ever-sparking information highway, I know that much of this has been inspired by Pauline.  I collect blue bottles and in the morning when the soft light dazzles them, I think of my teacher.  Late in the evening, when I pull up to the house, I feel happy because the coloured glass reflections glow and move and make me smile.  There are people who come into our thoughts often.  Pauline is one of those, for me.

She kept blue bottles on her window sills.

Painting by Robert Melville: Blue Glass Looking Out on Kootenay Lake