Connections
We have added this page to share unexpected ‘Connections’ and opportunities that have evolved over the past while. We have enjoyed some interesting experiences with trudysheoras web site visitors. In Connections, we tell those stories.
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Pop Up Art at the Library
Community outreach programs at Port Moody Library offer an impressive and varied number of options. A recent occasion was an interactive PopUp Art event with activities for a range of ages and interests.
I was asked to demonstrate simple card making. The library provided materials for those interested in participating. Staff set up two tables with supplies. It was a busy four hours!
And it was a lot of fun watching children intently creating their mini masterpieces or seniors trying their hand at something new. I did not know the accomplished watercolourist who politely declined my offer of an image to trace and then awed me with her gorgeous painting. That was a delightful end to the day!
The Sheoras Connection
I am often asked about my middle name. I was named after two of my Mom’s closest friends: Gertrude “Gertie” and Sheoras “Sheorie”. Gertrude is also shortened to Trudy and that is my given name. Sheoras did double duty as namesake for both Mom’s best friend and my paternal grandfather. It is the Gaelic feminine form of George.
I seldom meet another ‘Trudy’ and had never run into another ‘Sheoras’.
That changed with an email to my website. After quick apology that the message was not related to my paintings, the writer inquired about Sheoras. It was her granddaughter’s name. She had been researching its origins and my website popped up. She asked for any information I might have.
I replied that, to my knowledge, it was Scottish or Gaelic. I explained about Mom’s dear friend Sheorie. There was an excited response: Sheorie was her husband’s mother! Sadly, Sheoras died in her mid-thirties. But they had photographs. And so did I. One of our pictures matched:
My sister and I met with Sheoras and her grandparents. It was a lovely circle of connections. The Scottish-George background fit … Sheorie’s father was a George from Aberdeen!
The Baby Bonds Story
Chapter I
It began with an email in early November from a “Judy” who had chanced upon the link to my web site while visiting that of Mossom Creek Hatchery. She wrote the nicest message to me, one that still brings a smile whenever I reread it.
Judy is a nurse. She talked to friends and colleagues about my art and - a delightful surprise for Ella, Elizabeth and I - they chose to do their Christmas shopping in the trudysheoras gallery! They ordered scarves, books, cards, and tea towels. Plus Judy commissioned two of The Bond and a Currents. It was wonderful!
In addition to the personal gifts, they ordered Seeds posters for several hospitals and clinics. They also supported Mossom Hatchery by buying the last sets of Currents by the Breakwater cards.
Not long afterwards, Judy wrote that she had a colleague who was part of a grief support group for women who had experienced the loss of their baby. The friend had seen Judy’s The Bond painting and wanted a similar one to honour her babe. She requested a Baby Bond - her name for what has become a new series of paintings. The other five members of the group joined her in ordering Baby Bonds.
It was extremely emotional. I was often in tears as I sketched the mothers and babies knowing the love and loss that the images symbolized. In all other Bonds, mom and babe are separated, with the mom in the forefront. These were different. I sketched and erased, sketched and erased. It was when I finally placed the babe in front, tucked in close to mom, that the image felt right.
The responses from the women were so personal and touching - beyond anything I could possibly have imagined. I have now completed Baby Bonds for members of three grief support groups. While still emotional, it has become easier to paint Baby Bonds. The women have described the peace and healing that the paintings bring, providing a balance to the pain and sadness they represent.
The thank you messages that I have received are very meaningful and poignant to read. I am deeply honoured to have my art appreciated in this way.
Baby Bonds Story
Chapter II
Soon after the last group of Baby Bonds paintings were completed there was a message from one of the earlier recipients. She had been speaking with her doctor at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM) and her painting was discussed. From that conversation came a request for a Big Baby Bonds for the office.
“We have hung Baby Bonds in a large private room where we have many of our patients and clients come in to share their past and present grief, while continuing their journeys with hope, strength, and courage.
We initially spoke of hanging it behind reception but ultimately felt we wanted the energy and deeply symbolic meaning of Baby Bonds to hang in it’s present environment.
I mention “energy“ because it creates conversation and an expressing of vulnerable words of healing and hope. We refer to it as heartbreakingly beautiful; Baby Bonds, a painting to inspire deep feelings of hope, promise, and I gently dare say closure.”
- Dr Ken, Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine
I feel privileged to have Big Baby Bonds providing a measure of peace to those involved with the staff and services of PCRM.
