Cathy Benson | The Botetourt View

The two oil paintings, Lorraine Doolittle the artist and her instructor Dana Bell Kinzie.

Lorraine Doolittle had a stroke about two years ago that left her with limited use of her right hand. The road back has been a slow one, but she has persevered. She also has partial aphasia. So her expression through words has been limited, but she can still express her artistic side. Throughout her life she had been an artist. She made quilts, whittled wood figures with her late husband and made jewelry.

As a resident of The Glebe she had the opportunity to take painting class last fall with well-known artist Dana Bell Kinzie, also a resident at retirement community.

Though it was not an easy feat to paint with her left hand, Doolittle produced two paintings. One is a spring scene of a pastoral area in bloom and the other a fall mountain scene in vibrant colors.

"I showed her how to create from the distance to the foreground," said Kinzie, the art teacher. Art has always been part of Kinzie's life as well. She has been well known in the Roanoke Valley and beyond for years. Last fall eight Glebe residents signed up for the painting class and Doolittle was among them. (Kinzie no longer teaches art classes outside of the Glebe, where she has resided for the past four years.)

Kinzie readily accepted that Doolittle could still paint and approached her instruction with a positive attitude. Doolittle began with the spring scene painting. She swirled the clouds in the sky, birds fly high in the distance and then she developed the greening background and then the foreground of blooming trees. It took some time, but she completed a lovely painting.

Doolittle stepped forward to try more difficult techniques for the fall scene. "I showed her how to use sponges and brushes for the colorful leaves," said Kinzie. The fall scene literally burst forth from the painting and is very much one of eye appeal! Kinzie had both framed for Doolittle.

Doolittle acknowledged that she is set on painting the four seasons. When asked if she plans to enter the class this fall, she enthusiastically replied, "Yes!"

Doolittle has three grown children -- two daughters and a son. The girls have seen the paintings hanging in The Glebe but her son has not. She looked forward to the online publication of her with the two paintings, so he can view them as well.

Kinzie is very proud of Doolittle's paintings, which hang in The Glebe. And, after meeting Doolittle and Kinzie, it is easy to see how neither of them would let the debilitation of a stroke stop Doolittle from her pursuit of art -- proving once again that the human spirit can and will triumph over adversity and art will find its way out of the hearts of those who pursue it passionately.