Not just one, but two moody birds take the prize

By Carleen Wild
Moody County Enterprise

Despite being a painter nearly her entire life, Susan Brende says she has never entered a judged art event.
Until now.
The results could quite possibly inspire her to enter more shows.
Brende, of Colman, recently took 1st place in the acrylics division at the Dakota Masterworks over 60 Art Show with her piece titled, Besties. It is a beautiful work featuring two birds, a raven on a ceramic pot, and a little sparrow below.
Her inspiration: I do a lot of ravens and, I dont know, I think part of it was, I needed something orange and I started with the background and the pot. I do a lot of sparrows, sparrows are my favorite. You cant see them well but they both have matching bracelets on their legs, said Brende, from her office late Sunday evening at the Colman Library Branch.
Brende, in her retirement from a career as an occupational therapist, now spends a few days each week at the Colman Public Library where she not only helps individuals and families find a great book to take home, she also offers arts and crafts time for children the first and third Saturday of each month after storytime at 10:30 a.m.
The kids are exposed to different art mediums and are able to learn new artistic techniques, said Brende.
Some consistently ask to paint! Which makes me so happy. I like to think that Im not only encouraging avid readers, but growing future artists.
Brende sells her work online and at both the Brookings Art Fair and the Sioux Falls Sidewalk Art Fair at the Pavilion each summer.
She is a member of the Great Plains Watercolor Society and the library will be hosting the April 2024 paint-in, which will be open to the public (info to be shared closer to that date).
Brende started painting when she was just a young girl attending school in Colman. In fact, the Moody County Enterprise featured her as she and a friend, Sharon Schmidt, started taking oil painting lessons at the Senior Center in Colman to enhance the skills they already had inherently and through their young educations.