Through Facebook, a fellow student from years ago, Cynthia Cable, reintroduced me to our high school art teacher, Bea Card Kettlewood. I kept in touch with Bea for several years following graduation but then somehow lost contact.

Bea Kettlewood hangs her paintings for an art show. Photo by Karen Green Michel. Click for larger view.

So I was delighted to learn from Cynthia that she wanted to touch base with me again. We’ve been corresponding by email ever since.

It’s nice to reconnect.

Bea was one of those rare individuals who had a profound and lasting impact on my life. One of the things she taught me as a young student artist is how to look beyond the surface to capture the essence of a subject. It is something I attempt to do when taking photographs.

I was happy to learn that Bea never lost her passion and energy for painting. According to Cynthia:

“Oh she’s painting alright. Painting up a storm. She’s having two shows this month. She lectures and travels a lot.”

I told Bea about Digicamhelp. She said some lovely things about the site and then added these comments:

“I do not have a digital camera. My choice because I would get so wound up in the photography thing I would not get to paint.”

I was shocked. How could anyone not want to own and use a digital camera?!!

I was half joking with myself, of course. Just because I’m overly enthusiastic about digital photography doesn’t mean everyone else has the same interest.

I’ve thought a lot about what Bea wrote. What she really said spoke to her life-long passion, one so great that she won’t let anything distract from it.

It’s a valuable lesson for each of us.

Oh, and while not into “the photography thing,” I’m glad one of her associates is. Bea emailed me a digital photo taken as she hung her paintings.

See sample images from Bea’s painting diary.

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Dr. Bea Card Kettlewood is a noted artist, art educator and lecturer from Pompton Plains, New Jersey. During her tenure as head of the art department at New Milford High School in New Jersey, Bea developed an extraordinary and exemplary fine arts program. She’s had 46 solo shows and has been in juried or invitational shows in numerous states in the U.S. The media she uses include watercolors, oil and pen & ink. I still have two watercolors painted by her hanging on the walls in my home.

Cynthia Cable is fine arts photographer from San Francisco, California. She attended Parsons School of Design and received a BFA from Syracuse University. She has been employed as a Medical Photographer and camera woman for CNN.  She studied with Amy Arbus, Nathan Lypons, Minor White and other notable photographers.