Thelma Paddock Hope

Thelma Paddock Hope (1898-1991) was a well-known regional portrait/landscape artist and poet who lived most of her productive life in Corona del Mar, California. She was an early member of the world-wide organization, Zonta International.

Born on a farm near La Porte, Indiana, Thelma Hope became known primarily for her portraits and scenes from her world travels, as well as California and Hawaiian landscapes. From 1940 to 1947, she was a studio painter of background canvases for MGM studies and lived in Beverly Hills. She moved to Corona del Mar and later settled in Newport Beach.

Hope moved from Indiana to Southern California with her family in 1908 and began art studies that year. She spent one year at the Otis Art institute and two years at the Chicago Art Institute.

Source: http://www.askart.com/askart/h/thelma_paddock_hope/thelma_paddock_hope.aspx Sample Art Work: http://www.askart.com/AskART/artist.aspx?artist=121735&redir

''''Poem: "Year Around" (circa 1950)

I loved a garden where the "pineys" bloomed/ At each spring's end/ Nodding round heads of white and red/ For Decoration Day./ Where old lilac bushes scented spring's air/ Following the crocuses, by daffodils escorted./

Where summer brought the "butter and eggs"/ And Queen Anne's lace to fringe the fence/ There the grace of an ancient pear tree's/ Bended arms, loaded with blossoms/ Where petals fell like snow/ Softly AbOUT its silver trunk/ Followed by the thud of ripening pears in summer./

Guarded by black-green pines impervious/ To summer's heat and winter's snow/ That garden of my childhood,/ I loved it so./

There are each loved flower bloomed again each spring/ There seasons passed, some dancing feet, some slow/ Some hastening almost fearful,/ Toward winter's snow./ Golden pear leaves falling then/ Frost fern's magic on the window pane/ Soon the garden slept beneath the snow/ And then--again the spring./

Under branches black against the sky/ White violets wrapped in green blankets/ Simulated snow./ Garden of my childhood,/ Year around,/ I loved you so./''

Misc. Internet References: http://www.californiaartclub.org/history/gold%20medals/24th.htm http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/detail.php?booknr=345935755