Richard Hedgecock's Book Is Almost Gone

Two years ago my first book was published.  Believe it or not, it is almost gone.  So, if you are interested in getting a copy you better contact me soon. Below is an excerpt from the book.

I've often wondered what I have to offer in words when my life's passion has always been painting. Like many people, I have been saying that I was going to write a book even though one of my best friends told me to stick to painting, for I didn't  have enough colors to write.  Those were wise words I'm sure, but I've chosen to disregard his advice; I'm counting on my art to augment my palette and make up for my shortcomings with the written word.

Now I'm no poet, but there are some stories I want told that my paintbrush alone can't handle.  That is why I have written a book, it is meant to be a coffee table book, hopefully easy to read, pleasant to look at, but with an underlying message.  I think most of us hope that there is a purpose for our existence, that we are not just tumbleweeds blowing in the wind.

Our world is shrinking and expanding at the same time; shrinking by our awareness that the other side of the earth is only a blink away by satellite and expanding by the exploration of the heavens.  We becomes aware of our sameness and at the same time our uniqueness.  Some of us need to travel to expand our horizons, while others are content to plant our seeds in the same spot year after year; we are all searching for something to share.  It is the sharing that this book is about.

Johnny Nelson

Johnny Nelson

Johnny Nelson and I became good friends over the 18 years that Sabra was boarded at his stable, and we had many conversations.  We once talked about how we wanted to leave this world.  Johnny had told me he didn't worry about things like that, because they were in God's hands.  I told him I wanted to be carried off by a chariot.  Johnny's chariot was his tractor, which turned over on him as he was removing snow from a manure pile.  He was 85 - I miss him dearly.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

What to Paint

Crabby Abby

The things that each artist chooses to portray are as varied as the artist themselves.  Choices are made as to how we perceive our world; we can show its worst side, its best side, or the way it really is which is a combination of both, I think.  The style of displaying our visions are also personal, but the important thing is not choice of style but the fact that there is something within each of us that wants to get out and be shared.

The first painting of our golden retriever at the beach did not have the crab.  Five years later the crab was added which made for a better scene than Abby sniffing sand.  You just have to find the right prop to finish paintings when you are a storyteller.

 This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Chickens are Regal - Commissioned Works

Big Red

 Strutting

Your favorite animals and your most loved pets are Regal to you.

I have always liked chickens, and as a small kid stayed with me grandparents.  I used to search their barn looking for a nest of eggs.  But when I went to the animal shelter to get Penny something I knew she would like for her birthday . . . (another dog that was about to be eliminated), the one I chose happened to be a chicken eater.

Please remember to responsibly take care of your animals, spaying and neutering when necessary.  There are several organizations that you can find in your own area by simply searching animal adoption and rescue.  One organization that provides solutions in the Piedmont Triad area of NC is http://www.aarfanimals.org/  

What does this have to do with chickens?  It just means that if I did a painting of one, it would have to be someone else's chicken, which Big Red and Strutting were.

These images are available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Blind Date

Blind Date

I have known Rick Wells and his wife, Alysia, for several years; we've become good friends in that time.  Rick is a writer.  Alysia is a social worker, who holds a doctorate in sociology.  She is also a writer and a sculptor.

A few years ago I gave Rick a ride home from the veterinary office where Penny worked.  We drove about four miles through Kernersville, making numerous stops and turns.  Just as we passed his street, Rick told me, "Richard, you just missed the turn."

He was right, or course, but I'm sure you're wondering now what was the point of that story.  You see, Rick and Alysia are blind - Rick since he was twenty-nine, and Alysia since she was two.  Since Rick lost his sight as an adult, he still has visual memories, but Alysia has said she dreams only in sentences.  In her recent turn as a sculptor, Alysia creates models by here sense of touch alone.

I can't help but be surprised by how little Rick's and Alysia's blindness interferes with their daily lives.  Rick said to me once, " I wish you could see what I hear."  I wish that, too, because I can't imagine how beautiful the world must sound to someone who has distracted vision.

Rick and Alysia show the courage to face life each day knowing the only images they will see are in their minds and hearts.

 This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

The Polish Rider

The Polish Rider

A familiar face in downtown Kernersville, NC was Charles Horton, who would often pass by, no on foot, but atop a four-foot-high Shetland pony.  As a young boy, Charles once jumped on the back of my great-uncle's trailer to catch a ride to the store.  When he jumped off, he was hit by a car coming in the opposite direction.  His leg was severely broken and he remained in a coma for over a month.   Since his family was poor, they couldn't afford the best medical attention for Charles.  He never fully recovered and he had trouble walking after that.  He said he made good grades in school before the accident, but afterwards he said they couldn't teach him anything.

Charles couldn't afford a car, and it was too hard for him to climb onto a full-sized horse, so he spent years traveling around Kernersville on his pony, with his feet almost touching the ground.  I'm sure that there were people who gossiped about Charles, or thought him odd, but I thought he looked quite noble atop his miniature steed.  

He reminded me of Rembrandt's The Polish Rider, and so I decided to paint a portrait of Charles with Rembrandt's masterpiece in mind.  Not long after I finished his portrait and hung it in the front window of my shop, a lady stopped in to complain.  She said that her husband trained horses, and that she knew Charles's pony was being abused, because a pony that size was not strong enough to support a grown man.  My answer to that woman was that it had transported him for over twenty years and I know of no other pony in the world that had such an important purpose in life.

One morning when Charles came into my shop and out of the blue, he said to me, "See all those people out there driving big cars and living in big houses?  I'm happier than all of them."  I never worried too much about Charles after that.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

The Surrogates

The Surrogates

This painting which best portrays Penny, my wife,was executed on the back steps of our home.  Someone left five kittens with Penny after the mother had been hit by a car.  They were only two weeks old.  For four weeks Penny bottle fed these orphans every four hours until they were able to drink out of a bowl; and our Doberman, Puella, would gently lick each kitten clean after it was fed.  They were an unlikely  team of surrogate mothers, and I was moved by the love and dedication they showed in keeping these little ones alive.

Please remember to responsibly take care of your animals, spaying and neutering when necessary.  There are several organizations that you can find in your own area by simply searching animal adoption and rescue.  One organization that provides solutions in the Piedmont Triad area of NC is http://www.aarfanimals.org/  

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.