“Hungry Anyone?”
By Dwelia Haas
(a story to go with the print)

I drew a picture of the big brown pelican with a fish for a coloring book. My cousin, Kristen Twedt, who wrote the book that I was blessed to illustrate, “ My Crazy Christmas Catastrophe Cat”, told me that the picture was too good for a coloring book. Her opinion has always meant the world to me, so I put the picture of the pelican with my other so-called color book drawings to the side and waited for the time to paint them.
The bird is so comical looking. He looks at me as if he is saying this fish is to big for one bird so join me. That is how I came up with the name
“ Hungry Anyone?”. When I showed the painting to my aunt, she commented that the fish looked like he could be fried up really good. I guess she was thinking that the pelican was ready to share too!

“Mother’s Day”
By Dwelia Haas
(A story to go with the print)

I don’t know what it feels like to be a son. I will never be able to describe the experience of having a daughter. Those are two experiences of life along with being orphaned and other family relationships that I have not experienced. I can only listen to others as they describe such relationships. The thoughts of family relationships that I have not experienced can only contrast or compliment my experiences to form the weaving of my perception of human life.
I find to imagine how others feel about their mothers fascinating. I like to imagine feelings that are different than my personal feelings of my own mother. Mother and child relationships are so personal that only two unique individuals could create such relationship in each exclusive family tree. Two individuals which were for some mysterious purpose magnetically placed together for part or all of their lives.
The mother in the painting is sharing a moment in time on the Mississippi gulf coast with her sons. A moment that they may not remember but still a moment well spent. The moment shared in the painting is not a moment of hurt or sorrows but a moment of curiosity. I suspect that is my suggestion of what mothers should do. Mothers should share moments of wonder to small children so those children can imagine and feel something that does not physically exist. Shared moments that shuttle imagination, which create a weaving of the relationships in the offspring’s life. The mother in the painting shares wonder with her small sons.
Painting is what I do to share a moment of wonder. Sometimes I pretend that I am the mother and the viewer is my child. Maybe the viewers of “Mother’s Day” will wonder and imagine how it feels to be in a unique place with one that loves them. I hope the painting makes everyone experience the wonder of a special day that can be any day of the year. See the painting that I call “Mother’s Day.”

“Daddy Caught It on A Hook”
By Dwelia Haas
(a story to go with the print)

I remember my sister reciting a rhyme about a fish in a Brooke that daddy caught on a hook. That old rhyme describes my family life since my daddy is the all time recreational south Mississippi fisherman, my mama is the all time greatest cook and my brother, even when he was a baby, he could definitely eat like a man.
My mama has told me several times that my daddy never wants to die. It is like as long as he is breathing Mississippi air, that he is in his heaven. That man has spent so much time at every pond, lake, Native American named creek and river from Jackson to the coast fishing that he should have been able to feed a small nation. The man has been blessed and he is a blessing to us. My sister, brother and I are thankful to be the children of our Mississippi fisherman, and I am thankful to have painted the picture “Daddy Caught It on A Hook”.