Do you like to paint? I do, but I'm terrible at it. Well, that's my opinion. My mother always likes my paintings, but that's what mothers are for. My grandmother only painted walls and furniture, as far as I know, but she was always painting one room or another either at her house or ours. She'd buy old furniture and paint it or stain it to match her new walls. My mother paints some, too. When I was a little girl, Mother painted all our rooms whatever color we wanted.

My brothers wanted red, white and blue, so that's what they got. My sister and I wanted our rooms to look like a greenhouse, so Mother painted the walls a pale green. Then she painted the new built-in cabinets white. For a finishing touch, she painted lovely green vines and purple flowers up the dividers between the cabinets. It was a perfect little girls' room!

So, I guess painting is in my genes. My great grandmother on my mother's side painted a lot. All of my siblings have at least one of her paintings hanging in our homes. She painted Texas landscapes with bluebonnets and still life paintings of flowers, and such like that. They aren't great art, but she's family and it's nice to have them on my wall.

I started dabbling with watercolors when I was a little girl. We take it for granted in the U.S. that all children have the opportunity to learn a little about the arts. Not everyone does, though. You have to be able to buy the supplies. But we were lucky. From watercolors, I graduated to acrylics and oils. I still paint with all three, depending on my mood. I suppose a real artist might specialize, but I'm really just playing at it.

I paint abstract things with colors to suit my mood, like reds, yellow and oranges when I'm excited about something or blues and purples when I'm feeling calm and peaceful. Sometimes I try to paint landscapes like my great-grandmother did. They're not as good as hers, but probably one day my great grandchildren will have one hanging on their walls just to remind them of family. Your great grandchildren will probably do the same with yours.