Beverly Doolittle

There is a big change coming here at MichiGlee. Murphy has a job – one that pays. He will be the Executive Chef at a nursing home in a neighboring town. Good news, Murphy has a job, bad news, he has to go to work (oh no!). I’ll be taking over more of the chores. He will be too exhausted to do them, and I only work about 20 hours a week where he will be working over 45-50. It will be quite an adjustment for both of us – but in a good way. He has big plans for all the money some of which will come my way as re-payment for all those months of no rent. The infusion of cash will be much appreciated.

As part of my new schedule, I will be responsible for the morning feedings and letting horses out. This means I have to get dressed twice – once to go out to the barn and then again to go to work. I also will have to get started about an hour earlier and early is not my thing. These are all small things, but big in my world. I went out this morning early (about 8:00 LOL!) to do the feeding. White horses stood in the lush green pasture against a backdrop of mock orange trees in full bloom backed up by midnight green pines. The sky was so blue and the sun was so orange that it looked like a painting. High overhead a hawk was circling. It was beautiful – like a Bev Doolittle painting.

I have a calendar that displays some of her paintings, but not the one that introduced me to her art. It was many years ago when I was younger and Pan Am was still alive – my chestnut trail horse. He was a great horse, and we had many adventures together. I was working downtown in Ann Arbor, and spent my lunch hour walking around looking in the art store and bookstore windows. Along Liberty Street up towards campus there was a small store and a painting in the window took my eye. It was an Indian warrior astride a chestnut horse with markings exactly like Pan Am’s paused at the edge of a pool of water with tall pines, birch trees and rocks forming the framework. High above soared a hawk. The Indian, the horse, the blue sky and the hawk were reflected in the pool of water. It is so typical of her work showing the interconnectedness of all things – man and horse and nature all part of the same fabric. She weaves images among trees and rocks and intertwines man and beast and plant and sky and water and rocks as if they are but elements of each other. The forms take place simply as an expression of shades or density of color. A stand of birch trees becomes the hides of painted horses and men. I love her work. Someday when I am rich I will collect it.

That day I stood transfixed in the window for a long time. That painting sent chills down my spine – not a common occurrence for me. I went inside to ask about the price and the name of the painter. It was only $35.00. Beverly Doolitle was unknown then. I didn’t have that much, so I promised to come back next week when I got paid. I should have placed a deposit on it and taken it off the shelf – but I didn’t. The next week when I returned it was gone. It is probably worth many times the purchase price by now. Someday I will see that painting again, and when I do, I will buy it.