Valerie DOshier's Art
Valerie, the original author of the Cheeky Series, had a serious talent for art. We want to help share it with the world, as Val would have loved! Each piece has its own special meaning. Work can be purchased as a poster or on canvas in a variety of sizes depending on your preference. Contact D'Ann Swain, Valerie's mother for inquiry and purchases! Call or text (806)681-3723 or email her at ddc6505@sbcglobal.net. She will be overjoyed to hear from you!
The painting was originally made for D'Ann, and it represents the love that she has for the forest, especially the Aspen trees. The elk horns are part of a Native American tradition. It is believed by Native Americans that each person, depending on their birthdate, is associated with an animal. D'Ann's animal totem is the Elk.
There is a global meaning to this painting. D'Ann states that it shows that we, as a human race, are destroying our Native Forests at a very fast rate in the name of "progress". As the forest disappears, so do the animals.
This painting was also created for D'Ann. At the time she was going through a time where she was freeing herself from a dark time. As D'Ann was making big steps in her life, Valerie was her biggest cheerleader. Val set out to create artwork for D'Ann's new home.
Val centered the piece around her mother's favorite colors - red and turquoise.
The background of the painting is pages torn out of her mother's childhood piano books.
The coins are from different places visited. Val visited a few more places than are represented by the coins but she told her mother all about her adventures, making it feel like she was there with her.
Valerie called her mother one winter evening in 2014 and told her about how she had been hiking in the mountains outside of Denver with her pup Aspen. Val had decided to lay down under an Aspen grove and looked up at the sky through the trees and she snapped a picture of what she saw. This created a vision that inspired her to paint a picture of what she had seen in the forest that day.
Val also created this painting for her mother for her new house. The painting was done in D'Ann's favorite colors.
It is believed by Native Americans that each person is associated with a plant from the Plant Kingdom depending on their birthdate, D'Ann's being the black spruce.
Valeries Friend Jen Marez often used Val to model for her photo shoots. When Valerie was diagnosed with a brain tumor she shared a quote with D'Ann that she thought would be important one day. While Valerie's mother wrote down the quote she thought that it was deep and meaningful and should be used in whatever way that Valerie felt was right.
Jen came to visit many times after finding out about Valerie's illness. She loved the quote and thought it had profound meaning. Jen took her artistic talent and co-mingled it with one of the photos she took of Val a few months before.
At that time we had no idea how many people would be touched by the quote.