About the Artist

     I was born at home as Anita Ruth Mulinex more than 65 years ago in a beautiful place called Bogal Ridge in West Virginia. Some called it The Jungle. I remember it as the sweetest place to live and grow. My youngest brother and I ran free and explored life to our hearts content - experiencing creatures and creation in a setting that I can still see as clearly in my mind's eye as if I am standing there amidst the trees today. There were six of us - three girsl and three boys; Delbert (1930), Dolores Mae (1932), Bernard who we call Bun (1935), Verna Jean (1938), Me (1941) and Ronald (1943) - all six of my Mother and Father's childen survived into adulthood. Sadly, my eldest brother Delbert perished in the Korean War on my birthday in 1950 - they were fighting with nothing but their bayonets against fully armed opponents - one day after he was killed, supplies arrived with amunition.  Delbert was a beautiful young man and a tragic loss for all of us.

My Father was Everett Carl Mulinex (1905-1999), he was a farmer, a retiree of the O-Ames Shovel Plant, a story teller and a horse trader of extreme talent. If he could buy it, he could sell it. My mother used to joke that if he thought he could get away with it he might even trade her off. That was never true though, Dad survived Mom by 15 years and yet he never remarried.

My mother was Roxie Fordyce Mulinex (1907-1983), she was well educated and started out as an independant career woman, but traded that life to marry and raise a family with her childhood sweetheart. In the early years everything we ate was either grown or produced by her hands or Dads. From my earliest memories I can see my mother's feet and legs from under my bedroom door as she mopped the floors at night before going to bed. Like her mother before her she was a superior housekeeper and cook. She was an excellent mother and I miss her every day.

I myself have three children, Toni Robin (1962), James Roger (1966) and Ronald Charles (1967). I live with my daughter and her husband in a lovely small town called Granbury, TX. My husband Larry and I have two cats (Riho & Hotai) and a little blue-eyed Cocker Spaniel I named Kings Choice Nicole Carly - we call her Carly and sometimes Carly-Doodle-Do.