bettina fine art / whimsical folk art paintings

the brush stroke Spring 2020

This is a recent painting. I had seen a segment on local PBS about an event that happened in Tucson in 2016. A performance artist Kimi Eisele created an event that was the called Saguaro Ball. It was in part to celebrate the centennial of the founding of the National Park System. People were invited to a dance in the Saguaro National Park. Ladies came in formal dress and each selected a saguaro as a partner. Music was played while the women danced by their partners. In interviews they said this was a crazy event but lots of fun. Many more turned out than expected. I loved seeing to evening dresses paired with cowboy boots, sneakers and hiking boots. I knew I had to paint this. I also thought about the crazy idea itself and how creatives, outliers and misfits are the ones who usually come up with these things. I thought Jimmy Buffett’s song “We are the People Our Parents Warned Us About “ a perfect title for the piece.

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