“Flowers” and images in memory of Richard Cartwright

[JerrySketchyArt]

Thanks for doing this! I'm pretty new, but had already noticed his work. I actually went looking for the final version of the Love sketch with the woman at the grave. A bit shocking to realize that was his WIP.

This was done traditionally so if you end up sending physical media let me know and I'll send the original to you first.

[demotlj]

@SketchyArtish I am going to play around with the best way to send these on Monday and hopefully won’t need anything more than what people have posted. I’m going to try to keep it simple but want to retain the quality of everyone’s work. It is all so lovely.

[NessIllustration]

[demotlj]

Just a quick reminder that if anyone else wants to contribute, please post it by 9 am Eastern standard time tomorrow (Mon Mar 4). Thanks.

[MOO]

[Kevin Longueil]

@demotlj Thank you so much for putting this together for all of us.

[nasvikdraws]

@demotlj thank you for organizing this. Here is my flower to him....

[Johanna Kim]

Thanks again for organizing this for us, Laurie. If you need help, let me know.

[demotlj]

Since I am acting on behalf of the forum, I wanted to report back to everyone and let you know what I did with everything you posted. This morning, I copied and edited the comments/condolences in the thread regarding Richard's death, and posted them to his memorial page on the funeral site. (I edited it to keep just the comments about his value to the forum and expressions of condolence to the family.)

After a few emails back and forth with the funeral home, we decided the best thing was for me to print off the paintings people submitted in this thread and mail them to the funeral home so that they can pass them on to the family. (I sent some sample pictures to the funeral home manager and she was very touched by what you had created.) I sized the pieces as standard 4x6 photos to ensure good resolution and printed them on watercolor paper stationary, cut them apart, and mailed them this morning with this note:

Dear Mr. and Mrs Cartwright,
When the forum members of the Society for Visual Storytelling heard of Richard's death, we were greatly saddened and wanted to express our condolences. We decided to send "flowers" but in a way that we do best and that we thought Richard would have appreciated. On behalf of the entire forum, several of us put together this "bouquet" to express what Richard meant to us and to extend to you our deepest sympathies."

(I also added a note that should they want larger prints of anything we sent, they could contact me and I would contact the artist.)

I don't know what this whole effort will mean to the family (though I imagine they will be moved by our outreach) but I want to say for myself that I have been very touched by everything people have said and by the incredibly beautiful art you created in Richard's name. Not only is it incredibly heartening to see an online community supporting one another instead of trolling one another as so many do, but it is also a statement about the preciousness of the gift of artistic skills. Images are powerful and can say so much more than mere words, and what you all did for Richard's family is unforgettable.

[Chip Valecek]

@demotlj that is amazing! Thank you so much for taking your time to do this.

[KathrynAdebayo]

Thank you for leading this endeavor and representing all of the artists here. I appreciate how you always write with such dignity and tenderness.

[Johanna Kim]

@demotlj I am so touched by your thoughtful and creative ideas, actions and words on behalf of all of us. Thank you so much.

[Whitney Simms]

@demotlj oh shoot. I didn't make it in time. I should've done this last week. Maybe it can just stay here on this page. Thanks so much for doing this for his family. I think finding out our families influence and kindness has reached out further than we know must bring added comfort.

[demotlj]

@Whitney-Simms I noticed on the Memorial page that there is a place at the bottom of the form where you can upload photos. You could try posting it directly. Here is the link: https://www.thompsonfs.ca/obituary/richard-cartwright/?send=1#condolences

[Whitney Simms]

@demotlj I’ll do that! Thanks!

[MOO]

@demotlj Thanks for all of the work you put in! It will surely mean a lot to his loved ones.

[MOO]

@Whitney-Simms Thank you!

[Julia]

@demotlj thank you so much for all the work you undertook in the name of our community

[Annemieke]

@demotlj I didn't know Richard since I'm fairly new to the forums. I've been really touched by all the posts everybody have made and I was just wondering if anybody thought of mentioning this to his family. What you've done is really special @demotlj and I'm sure it will be greatly appreciated.