When pigs fly and turtles have feathers
When pigs fly and turtles have feathers
By ALLAN TINKER
You probably haven’t seen pigs fly yet, someone hasn’t accomplished this task. But consider feathered turtles! They have arrived, at least on the crafty side of life.
Veronica (Ronnie) Gascoine admits she is a “crafty person” and has been that way since she was a child, hunting with her father and enjoying the natural world around her, full of weeds, grasses and flowers. The feathers, wood and flora from the results of their hunting were just bonuses to later aid in crafting some new decoration or useful item.
“I have always done crafts,” she stated. First she sold to friends, then people started calling and she takes orders for what they want specially done for them. She is currently working on a small giraffe, which will also be feathered.
Gascoine paints murals, using either a design of her own or one that the person or business supplies. She sketches the design, often many times enlarged, onto the wall or building, enlarging by her in-born talent; as she said, “I just do it.” She created paintings for the Dakota Farms Café in Washburn, which displays a buffalo, steer, sunflowers, rooster and a farmstead in its design. The colorful mural is just one of the larger works she has done. There is also one on a newspaper building in Aberdeen, SD. “That was my biggest mural,” she stated.
She estimates that it takes her about a week to do a larger design. She also has murals she has painted in Pennsylvania.
