Title: "Flowers to Boot"

Watercolor

Size: 20 x 24 in.

Date Published: 1982

Rhonda McEnroe, artist
ENROE Studio of
Owensboro, KY

1982 - The sixth and the last image painted for the "Basket Series" was carefully designed to coordinate with either "Forget-Me-Nots" or "Friendship Bouquet" prints. As they were collected by individuals, therby hard to find even on the secondary market, there were stories of people paying $500 and more for a print. A local divorce attorney said he witnessed a most fierce battle between a husband and wife over a set of my two prints.

"Flowers to Boot" watercolor was stolen from the Cigar Factory Mall during the wee hours of the night, along with "Yard Sale Treasures". There were four originals hanging in the hall on the first floor. (My art gallery wasn't open until 1986.) Someone carried off two of my paintings and the security office delayed in calling me or the police until about 3 pm the next day. Words cannot express my anger. When I paint something, it becomes a part of me, so the emotions run deep, especially when someone steals it. Many of you may remember the ads I placed in the newspaper asking for its return and promising not to prosecute. After several weeks, a phone call came very late one night. The caller said the painting had been placed outside in the snow at St. John's Methodist Church. The instant my husband walked in the house with the piece, the phone rang again. Now that we had it safely in our possession, I immediately started asking for "Yard Sale Treasures". The person said "that friend didn't want to part with it, but they were still working on him" and hung up.

Article featured in the Messenger-Inquirer of Owensboro, Kentucky, in September, 2003.

"McEnroe exhibit at Brescia to feature recovered paintings: 2 were taken while on exhibit 20 years ago"

By Keith Lawrence

     The last time Rhonda McEnroe exhibited two of her paintings - "Flowers to Boot" and "Yard Sale Treasures" - they were stolen.
     That was nearly twenty years ago at the old Cigar Factory Mall. But security is better at Brescia University's Anna Eaton Stout Memorial Gallery.
     And McEnroe will include those painting in "Second Look," an exhibit that opens Sunday with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Brescia Campus Center.
     McEnroe said the paintings were stolen from a hallway exhibit at what is now the Cigar Factory Complex back when it was a shopping center.
     She said she ran ads in the Messenger-Inquirer for weeks, pleading for the thief to return the paintings.
     Finally, one night, with snow on the ground, she got a call saying one of the paintings was outside St. John United Methodist Church. Later, the other was found outside St. Stephen Cathedral.
     McEnroe's exhibition combines "Private Collection," works she published from 1979 to 1995 in her "Basket" and "Basket & Etc." series, with her more recent "Our Common Ground" series of oils and watercolors.
     "Second Look", which runs through Oct. 2 at Brescia, marks the first time many of these originals have been shown since 1989, she said.
     Show hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
     Kentucky Educational Television has taped McEnroe's exhibition for airing on its "Mixed Media" series at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 on Owensboro cable channel 12. It will be repeated on Sept. 27.