An old friend of mine contacted me out of the blue and it was so nice to hear from him.  He inspired me to look up friends that I thought about every so often but had lost touch with.  I went crazy googling and writing — it’s been wonderful getting chatty and excitable e-mails back and I’m happy to have “re-started” many friendships.  Of course, with all the good must come some bad. 

In 2002, I met Carol Petalas in a now-defunct paint store.  While striking up a friendship, she mentioned she needed help with a few homes, both local and out-of-town.  My brother and I came on board temporarily and traveled with her.  Although she was primarily a muralist, she taught us many things about faux and expanding our creative horizons.  She also infused a love of Greece to us, having lived there for a portion of her life.  A highly respected artist, she was chosen by HGTV to be featured in their Modern Masters series in an informative episode.  She was also the subject of many art gallery shows and media pieces.  After helping Carol for a time, we turned back to our own commissions but we did speak on the phone occassionally.  One day, we met up for lunch and promised to keep in touch more frequently…and you know how that can go.  Sadly, my brother and I found out that she passed away two months ago from stomach cancer.  We were both so upset and we vowed to find out where we could pay our respects, even at this late hour.  The world has lost a tremendous artist. 

Here is some work we did with her — sorry the pics are not the best quality but they are about six years old and taken by an early digital camera version. 

The wild tortoishell…I’m not the biggest fan of borders per se, but I do like how the matching border adds a nice touch.  The border was handpainted with no stencils used.

                             wild-tortoishell.jpg 

I like how Carol decided to have us take the faux beyond the set border…why color within the lines?

                   tray-ceiling-border-edge.jpg

Two others…the faux and/or colors in these are just a bit passe, but this is a post of our work with Carol, so in they go…

      arch-marble-faux.jpg trifaux.jpg

Today, I also found out that another friend who recently contacted me (she was my best friend in high school and in my 20s) lost her mother this past week.  Heartbreaking.  I suppose that’s the current mood…finding comfort in memories.  I’m going to try my best to be aware of and appreciate all the moments we are given with those we cherish for they have a way of passing us by, no?