Heartfelt Art

As many of you know, my eldest granddaughter, Isabelle, has Leukemia – AMPL to be exact.

The event had face painting; Isabelle opted for less is more.

She has undergone treatment and is in her second year of maintenance meds. So far, she hasn’t been sick even one time in the past year (we give God all the glory for that miracle). The only problem she has is when she is on her ATRA rotation of meds. ATRA, short for something I can neither pronounce nor spell, is basically high toxic levels of Vitamin A. When she is on this drug, she gets horrible migraine headaches. The kind that take a lot of pain pills, nausea medication, darkness and quiet to help her exist. Its not fun, but thankfully it is only 15 days out of every 90, and Rebekah thinks she only has two rotations left.

But still, 15 days is a long time to a child, especially when something important is coming up like the annual Art With A Heart gala. Isabelle works hard, plans and anticipates this event all year. This year was to be her second year to have paintings entered into the auction. She had worked very hard on two paintings, a piece of craft art and several small pieces that were part of the large combination pieces that were to be cut up and sold off.

Bekah and Belle – two beauties

You guessed it; her 15 days fell exactly on the much awaited event. Thankfully, her doctor, understanding the importance of these events to children, allowed her to go off her meds for two days so she was able to attend without any pain or throwing up!

Hey Diddle Diddle

Her two main paintings were Hey Diddle Diddle, a piece that she envisioned from the popular nursery rhyme that instead depicted her sitting on a dock of a lake with a cow jumping over the reflection of the moon. The little dog, the cat and the fiddle and the dish and spoon were also there along with fireflies, trees and a tranquil night.

Isabelle with her creations!

Her second piece was a self portrait, that looked remarkably like her complete with cute little freckles smattered across her little nose and bright blue eyes. This one was in an adorable frame decked out with colorful buttons that perfectly match her bright personality.

The evening began with a twilight limousine tour of downtown Oklahoma City and a red carpet entrance on the arm of a dashing OU football player. The OU and OSU Tri Deltas plan and host the event and basically spoil all the children to pieces.

Isabelle entering with her OU football player.

Isabelle looked beautiful in her black and white frilly party dress; she had picked it out months ago and refused to wear any kind of outer covering for fear it would impede the view of the roses on the top of her dress – she is such a girl! Her mommy warned her that it might be quite cold (who can know for sure in Oklahoma?), but she was determined. So, with instructions “to not look cold” Belle entered the front foyer of Children’s Hospital without even the appearance of goose pimples! Such a trooper!

Making Ready

She was such a professional

The Delta Girls loved her

With daddy, mommy, brothers Mac and Ethan.

The night was a success; Isabelle was a hit with all the patrons – go figure. Two gentlemen in particular were very keen on being the ones to win the bids on her works of art. In the final moments, a last effort was made to top the bids for assured success.

Her art instructor has worked with her for two years. Her own son is a cancer survivor.

Last minute bids

Her self portrait was purchased by one older man whose own granddaughter was in her fifth year of Art With A Heart. He purchased her self portrait with the express purpose of returning it to Isabelle!

This gentleman kept returning to make sure he had the bid.

The winning couple with Belle’s self portrait.

Isabelle didn’t understand that he wanted to give her back her painting. I think she thought he wasn’t going to buy it.

Rebekah was brought to tears when the kind man gave Belle her painting back.

The nursery rhyme painting and the beautifully crafted bowl of  pears were purchased from a young man and woman who has a daughter just one year younger that Belle. The wife survived cancer while she was pregnant with their daughter.

The couple who bought Hey Diddle Diddle. They have a daughter Isabelle’s age and she is a cancer survivor herself! She was diagnosed with Lymphoma while she was pregnant.

The Pears have it!

As Isabelle was making ready to return home where she could dream of future art projects, limousine rides and pretty dresses, the second art patron returned to the hospital and presented Isabelle with her Hey Diddle Diddle painting. He said that he and his wife decided as they were driving away that they wanted this young beautiful artist to have her work back!

Isabelle was so touched by this couple’s kindness when they decided to give her back her favorite painting!

It is times like these that I am glad that I am part of the human race!

If you would like to look at Isabelle’s art, go to http://www.artwithaheartock.com; click on Fletcher’s Corner and then the 2013 artist. You can even help support childhood cancer care and research by putchasing a reporoduction of Isabelle’s or another’s arts. There really are some fine pieces in the collection. Isabelle’s are numbers 16 & 17. If they don’t come up, wait a day or so and they should be uploaded. I was told that they were there today, but only the party pics were up.

This is my new tea mug. It is hard to see the whole scene, but I keep rotating it. Items like this and many more can be purchased at Fletcher’s Corner to help in the fight against Childhood Cancers!

I have only picked up one piece so far, but am going to order more soon! I love my little Belly Dancer!