My dear cousin Lynn Patton swims into my consciousness today more persistently than on other days, sending a beam of light that parts the dark clouds coming from Washington. Lynn is the daughter of Margaret and William Hoehn of Baltimore. Lynn’s late mother was my mother’s younger sister, a beautiful brunette with brains and good sense to match her beauty. Without question, she passed those gifts on to her daughter.

Lynn and I didn’t see each other all that often as children, but when we got together occasionally at family gatherings, we certainly enjoyed each other’s company. We were friends. She was my date as a young adult when in 1956 Baltimore’s Players Company theater group presented its awards at an annual banquet at the Sheraton Belvedere hotel.

Our lives moved in different directions for decades until a few years ago, we learned that she was moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, and would live about 40 miles from our home in Chapel Hill. The intervening years weren’t always kind to Lynn, but they brought out her multiple talents for nursing and art.

Today, she enjoys a well-earned reputation as an award-winning artist specializing in painting on porcelain, often drawing on the animal kingdom for her subjects. Her honors include first place and best of show in numerous juried shows and state fairs in Maryland and Virginia, as well as regional shows sponsored by World Organization of China Painters and  International Porcelain Artists and Teachers. She and her work have been the subjects of several articles in Porcelain Artist, China Painter and The British Porcelain Artist. Her work is displayed regularly at the Cary (NC) Gallery of Artists. Each October, she hosts a sale and show in her native Baltimore. Her work is stunning.

We enrich our own life as well as others’ when we create beauty and share it. Lynn finds happiness in her studio, and we all benefit.