The Frances Lewis Art Scholarship

This is an article that I've submitted to several newspapers and organizations asking for support in promoting the sale of prints from my mother's oil paintings.  Any help at all in helping us promote the site would be greatly appreciated.

 

The family of Frances Lewis (1938-2011) has made available prints of her oil paintings.  Frances’ talent with canvas is well known throughout our community.  She won many 1^st and 2^nd place ribbons with her art in our local county fairs.  Many people have desired to own one of her works of art; however, she never had them for sale to the public except for one private, invitation-only event several years ago.  Friends and family were often gifted with one of her paintings and now, with her passing, those have become treasured items.

After continued requests by friends and associates for one of her paintings after her death in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, her son, James Lewis Jr., took on the project of having prints made of most of her paintings several months ago.  These prints are now available to purchase directly from his website, Piney River Enterprises, Inc. at http://www.alewisenterprise.com/franceslewisart.html.  There is a company working with them, behind the scene, that offers the prints in a variety of sizes and styles.  There are currently 37 different prints to choose from, with more being added.  The cost starts at $22.00 for most prints and increases depending on the style and size ordered, with options for matting and framing.  The styles include a metal print, acrylic, and canvas prints. There is also an option to have the prints made into cards.

Frances worked mostly with oils, often sitting up on location for some of her most beautiful paintings.  Each painting has a story and most are actual locations that Frances and her husband, James, along with their children, James, Ray Lewis, and Deborah Boutwell, traveled to.  The stories behind the paintings are also listed with each print’s information.  Frances painted mountain ranges, country roads, adobe homes, florals, trains, and wagons, all scenic views found in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Texas and Tennessee.  Locally, there are prints of her depictions of an old barn on the late Joe Shipp’s farm and the Pinewood Mansion.

Because of Frances’ love of art, the family has set up the Frances Lewis Art Scholarship which will be granted to a senior graduating from Hickman County High School.  The proceeds the family receives from the sale of the prints will all go toward this scholarship.  The specifics of the scholarship are still being worked out, however they hope by 2015 there will be enough money received to grant the first of many scholarships.

A selection of prints will be for sale at the homes of James Lewis Jr. and Deborah Boutwell during the Arts & Ag Tour, May 23-24.  They are stops numbers 26 & 27 on the tour guide in the Pinewood community.

Brush Strokes

I love this time of the year.  I can look through pictures on Pinterest of Tumblr of Fall for hours. Then I usually want to recreate something I've seen.  I love to paint, but I'm not one of those painters that does well without a picture or visual to go by.  So I took my inspiration this week from these two photos and did my own version of Fall, at the barn and in the aspens.

Here's the Pinterest version:

 

And here's my version:



artist Deborah Boutwell

The camera doesn't really pick up the true colors.  This one turned out too dark.  I like my barn, but need to work on the trees and shadows.

 

I found a photo by James Kay that I really liked of aspens.  Click here to see his version.

And here's my version.

 

artist Deborah Boutwell

Ken said at first glance that my aspen trees looked like onions.  So, I guess they need more work.  I like how the base of the trees turned out and the three up front look pretty good, but I didn't capture the background of the golden leaves good enough.

Maybe one day, I'll paint them like my mother did.

artist Frances Lewis

Just in Case You Wanted to Know Some Things About Me

I  went walking with my camera today and the following pictures are just a few that I snapped today.  Some of them show things I worked on today and other some of that heritage I was blessed to be around.

I did get some things finished and I'm pretty proud of this skirt.

 I got started on the blouse to go with the skirt, but my design took a few turns before I finally  cut the material.

 I hope to have the binding done on this table runner finished today and up on my Etsy shop this week.

 I washed the quilts that Sally brought me and hung them on the line.  Yes..my clothes line stretches across my back porch.  I did it for convenience one day after we moved in and it's been there ever since.  The only bad thing, my son's dog will sometimes pull the items on the bottom line off just for fun.

 I then went to my parent's house to take care of some things for my dad.  This where I lived all my childhood.  We moved in when I was 6 months old (they did a lot of remodeling, the house was much smaller and about 50 years old when we moved in). It's kind of sad to me that those trees were planted after I moved away and they have gotten so big.  Guess I've been gone long enough for trees to grow.

 But I didn't go far.  See that little red roof behind the red barn?  That's my house.  I consider myself right across the street from my parent's home...or across the field.

 I went into my parent's house to tidy up for my dad and snapped a few shots.  This is the wall in the main bedroom.  All those pictures started with the three black and white baby pictures in the center  (I'm the cutest one!).  All those other pictures are our kids through the years.  My mom spent her last few months in this room looking at this wall.  I think it brought her comfort and joy.

 This is the bed on the opposite side of the picture wall, covered with one of Mom's prettiest quilts.  All stars...she loved stars.

 My grandmother made this quilt from all my mother's baby clothes.

 Then on other walls in the bedroom and throughout the house is the art.  My mom was an artist.

 Lots of her paintings are of mountains and roads.

 She tried her hand at just about everything.  She made this porcelain doll and the ceramic pieces are some of my favorite.

 The Victorian lady probably started my love of all things Victorian.  She's a jewelry box and the other lady is a vase...there's a hole in her hat.

 Not artwork, so to speak, but the way my mom arranged things was artful.  Some of the family gave her this orchid for her birthday last year.  1 year later and it's still blooming.  Daddy is doing a great job taking care of it..

Lots of Mom's little projects turned into covers to go on the back of the chairs.  I really like this one.

Of course Daddy has some of his things hanging around too.

This is my favorite of all Mom's paintings.  I feel like I'm walking right down that road.  I need a jacket on because the fall air in the Colorado is chilly.

I guess I just figured everyone grew up with art all around them.  Don't you think it's so boring to just hang one picture on a wall....cover those walls!

This was Mom's last painting.  She did it as a challenge with our pastor.  They each took a picture from the Smokey Mountains and did their interpretation.  I think her's turned out pretty good and not to hurt his feelings...but the best.

In the midst of her paintings is this one.  I was home alone and wanted to prove to her that I did in fact know how to paint, that I was paying attention to her lessons.  I had this hanging on the wall when she got home.  Not to be for a young girl.

But I did learn from the best.

She had so much talent no matter what medium she used.

This little wall is full of lots of "my firsts".  Mom seemed to think that every time I learned to do something new, she got the first project.  The cross stitchings, Indian woman drawing, and quilling are all my firsts.  Some of the others are from other family members.

I love when my son stops by to see what I'm doing.

I had such a wonderful childhood growing up here.  I was encouraged to try everything.

My house now.

I love that the back view is so completely different than the front.

Much like the backs of my quilts....always a little different.

I hope that I've taught my kids to try anything that seems to capture their attention.  To look at things a little differently and think "Outside the Box" (the name of the quilt).

So...now I just need a blouse so I can wear my new skirt.