Have you ever known with 100% certainty that your mother would have done exactly the same thing that you did?  For years, my normally law abiding mother tried to talk one of her children and/or grandchildren into picking her some cattails from the Biloxi beach to put in a large vase in her living room to replicate a picture she saw somewhere along the way.  That is totally illegal but I have to admit, good décor.

              For months I have been passing the most beautiful fields full of cotton on my way to see my precious grandbaby.  I started getting excited when the plants began to grow enough for me to figure out what they were.  I think it is one family that plants them.  The fields stretch for miles and when in full bloom are just beautiful.

              For years I have been wanting to do a cotton boll painting.  I’ve wanted to play with the color temperature of the white.  The texture of cotton is a challenge, too.  And for months, I have been faced with miles and miles of opportunity and temptation while on my way to see my sweet grandbaby.

              Now, I do not condone trespassing or petty larceny (as an aside, that is what they called stealing letters off of a flashing sign so you can spell out our name in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1984, but that is another story).  However, after many drives on which I simply scouted and a couple on which I attempted to get my by-the-book husband to stop for me, I finally was in control of the wheel and found a good turn around spot with a field that did not require me to jump a ditch or tread through too much brush.

              As it turns out, cotton plants are very hard to pull up.  However, I am now the proud owner of a handful of cotton branches.  These branches are scheduled to appear in a few still life paintings.  I also plan to do a landscape painting of the field where they grew.  My bounty will be put to good use.

              No, my momma would not have traipsed through a cotton field for a handful of cotton branches. But you can be dadgum sure that she would have nagged, bullied or bribed until she found a weak link to do her dirty work for her.  That vase of cattails did look lovely in her living room.