Five Ladies... and Hope

In July of 2010, I was asked to participate in an art project. It would involve five artists, five canvases, five journals and a five month commitment. Of course, my first response was NO WAY!! I did not have enough confidence in my artistic ability to be involved in such a big project. But in the end, I decided to go for it and see what transpired. Although it was a challenge, I really enjoyed the process. Each artist was to choose a theme, divide their own canvas into 5 sections, and on one of the sections, paint something that represented their chosen theme. There was also a journal to go along with each canvas to record the inspiration behind the theme. At the end of each month, the artists would meet to swap canvases/journals, but also to socialize and get to know each other a little better. Each artist had their own separate theme and we didn’t know what the others theme was until we got their canvas/journal. So each month we’d get a new theme that we had to use when working on that month’s canvas/journal.

The theme I chose was something meaningful to me... HOPE. A definition of hope is, "to look forward to with confidence or expectation" or "to expect and desire." The word has become more and more meaningful to me over the past few years as I have spent a lot of time in hope and prayer for family members and friends who are battling cancer.

I divided my canvas, and painted on the center portion. My vision for that section of the painting: "Even in the darkest moments, keep looking to the heavens and never lose hope."

In August, I received Joanne’s canvas and her theme was "Flying." My section of the painting is the mermaid "flying" through the water.

In September, I received Sherri’s canvas and her theme was "Stars." My section of the painting is the hand... "Reach for the Stars."

In October, I received Karen’s canvas and her theme was "Colors." She gave us 5 tubes of paint and we could paint anything as long as we only used the five colors. My section is the small checkerboard part of the painting.

In November, I received Gail’s canvas and her theme was "Moments in the Mountains." My section of the painting is the mountain silhouette at the top with the John Muir quote, "The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go.".


We took a month off in December, and had our final meeting in January 2011 to reveal the complete paintings for the first time to the group. What fun!


 I have made a card out of the "Five Ladies and Hope" painting, and, as with my other "Hope"cards, 100% of all commissions made on this card will be donated to cancer research.