Bobbie Malone Robin Halpren-Ruder The Continually Flowering Friendship

          The Continually Flowering Friendship

Bobbie Malone

Robin Halpren-Ruder

 

Robin’s story:

 

When my daughter was in high school, she and her friends use to write BFF( best friends forever), all over everything. I thought it was so silly. Now thinking about it, I realize some of us are truly lucky enough to have this relationship. Bobbie Malone and I met in the Fall of 1974 and we have been BFF ever since. We painted murals together when we both lived in New Orleans, standing next to each other day and night for more than 3 solid years. We told each other our life stories, we became family, bringing our husbands and children into our life-long friendship. 

We haven’t lived anywhere near each other since 1978, though we are in consent contact, sharing the ups and downs of our daily lives. A few years ago, Bobbie suggested we have a mini joint project. We both love needlepoint. She was spending a lot of time riding in the car and wanted a project easy to carry around. I’m always painting. There’s no difference between painting on an artist’s canvas or a needlepoint canvas. I decided to paint flowers in full bloom. We always added plants somewhere in the murals. Now we are in full bloom ourselves, being 73 and 78 respectively. It’s our time to share the beauty of a flowering friendship in another collective creation. 

 

Robin Halpren-Ruder, Providence, RI

 

Bobbie’s story;

 

Robin was the artist-in-residence at my children’s public school in the French Quarter when we met. I was designing needlepoint canvases and teaching needlepoint courses when we decided to create our mural-painting business, Artenvirons. I have become immersed in more fabric-related projects; Robin has become more immersed in painting. Her palette, like her personality, is primary and bright, because she constantly focuses on and consciously chooses to find and assert happiness in her Matisse-inspired works. I so enjoyed exploring new stitches when I worked on this pillow, and I placed both of our initials along the bottom of the piece. 

 

Bobbie Malone, San Antonio, TX