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Overview
Had the bullet not missed her heart by on-sixteenth of an inch, this story would not have been told.
Born with a Rusty Spoon is the story of artist Bertie Stroup Marah who, along with her four siblings, spent her childhood in abject poverty moving from sawmill shacks, tents, dilapidated houses, trailers and even an abandoned railroad car in the isolated desert and mountainous hard scrabble ares of New Mexico. Bertie tells her story through the innocent eyes of her childhood while being raised by neglectful alcoholic parents.
The children make the best of their isolated world by creating imaginative adventures that Bertie tells with humor and heart. Bertie spends most of her life playing the role of family caregiver to her two younger sisters and peacemaker to her sometimes violent and frequently drunken parents.
At the tender age of eighteen Bertie marries and moves to Colorado. There, she is again thrown into the role of caregiver to her two baby boys and must make a living to help support her family, all the while continuing to repress her natural creative gift and desire to become an artist.
Bertie tells this true story of deprivation, hardship, domestic abuse; and later, acute clinical depression, a failed suicide attempt, a miraculous second chance, breast cancer, and ultimately redemption and success to become a nationally recognized, award-winning artist.
This is an inspiring story about family, love, and resiliency told with compassion, honesty, and pride.
--------------------
"Now I know Bertie Stroup Marah is as heartfelt and talented a writer as she is a painter. I cannot convey how touched I was by her story. We are a product of our families, aren't we all? We take the good things and fold them into relationships we choose, and we, hopefully, learn from the difficult things and push ourselves to seek something different, or to at least find some peace and acceptance. I can picture her, that lovely, nurturing and talented child, and see how she grew into the woman we know her to be."
Laurena Davis, Writer and Editor,
Grand Junction, Colorado
"We have loved Bertie and her beautiful, award-winning paintings for many years. What a revelation to learn of her beginnings! This book evokes so many emotions and ultimately teaches the tenacity of the human spirit."
Dan Deuter, Western Artist and Historian,
Ellie Deuter, Retired School Teacher
"Bertie's story is a testament to the 3 T's. Her tenacity, her talent and triumph. She just kept on fighting and we are all the better for it. The enjoyment of her stunning work will be her gift to all of us - It is an inspiring story."
Willa Sorensen, Retired Principal & School Board Member,
Delta County School District 50
"I laughed, I cried, and I had knots in my stomach reading about the tough times. I could picture it all. I could not or would not try to make it better. It is a wonderful story and it is clearly from the heart."
Rhonda Atchetee, ExxonMobile,
Procurement Manager
"A delight to read. Down to earth memories -funny, touching and sometimes heartbreaking but never boring."
Almira Whiteside, retired English
Professor, Albuquerque, NM
Born with a Rusty Spoon is the story of artist Bertie Stroup Marah who, along with her four siblings, spent her childhood in abject poverty moving from sawmill shacks, tents, dilapidated houses, trailers and even an abandoned railroad car in the isolated desert and mountainous hard scrabble ares of New Mexico. Bertie tells her story through the innocent eyes of her childhood while being raised by neglectful alcoholic parents.
The children make the best of their isolated world by creating imaginative adventures that Bertie tells with humor and heart. Bertie spends most of her life playing the role of family caregiver to her two younger sisters and peacemaker to her sometimes violent and frequently drunken parents.
At the tender age of eighteen Bertie marries and moves to Colorado. There, she is again thrown into the role of caregiver to her two baby boys and must make a living to help support her family, all the while continuing to repress her natural creative gift and desire to become an artist.
Bertie tells this true story of deprivation, hardship, domestic abuse; and later, acute clinical depression, a failed suicide attempt, a miraculous second chance, breast cancer, and ultimately redemption and success to become a nationally recognized, award-winning artist.
This is an inspiring story about family, love, and resiliency told with compassion, honesty, and pride.
--------------------
"Now I know Bertie Stroup Marah is as heartfelt and talented a writer as she is a painter. I cannot convey how touched I was by her story. We are a product of our families, aren't we all? We take the good things and fold them into relationships we choose, and we, hopefully, learn from the difficult things and push ourselves to seek something different, or to at least find some peace and acceptance. I can picture her, that lovely, nurturing and talented child, and see how she grew into the woman we know her to be."
Laurena Davis, Writer and Editor,
Grand Junction, Colorado
"We have loved Bertie and her beautiful, award-winning paintings for many years. What a revelation to learn of her beginnings! This book evokes so many emotions and ultimately teaches the tenacity of the human spirit."
Dan Deuter, Western Artist and Historian,
Ellie Deuter, Retired School Teacher
"Bertie's story is a testament to the 3 T's. Her tenacity, her talent and triumph. She just kept on fighting and we are all the better for it. The enjoyment of her stunning work will be her gift to all of us - It is an inspiring story."
Willa Sorensen, Retired Principal & School Board Member,
Delta County School District 50
"I laughed, I cried, and I had knots in my stomach reading about the tough times. I could picture it all. I could not or would not try to make it better. It is a wonderful story and it is clearly from the heart."
Rhonda Atchetee, ExxonMobile,
Procurement Manager
"A delight to read. Down to earth memories -funny, touching and sometimes heartbreaking but never boring."
Almira Whiteside, retired English
Professor, Albuquerque, NM
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940013258075 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Plain View Press |
| Publication date: | 05/15/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 308 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Painter of Moods and Seasons Bertie Stroup Marah is a girl from New Mexico who has made an impact in the art world. Growing up in New Mexico, she explored the legendary hills and canyons of the desert. But the dreams and aspirations of youth are often forgotten, as in Bertie's case, postponed. After high school, she married, had two sons and moved to the western slope of Colorado. Later, Bertie remembered her old dreams and quit her job to paint full time. "I painted every spare moment, but I was hungry for guidance. I committed myself to developing, learning, growing, and also to satisfying this hunger with sound instruction. The sky was the limit! I had talent and I have always been willing to work." Bertie did find guidance, in workshops with such nationally recognized watercolorist as Joe Bohler, Gerald Fritzler, Tom Owens, Steve Quiller, and Judy Betts. "I feel I learned a great deal from each of my teachers; each shared a bit of themselves with me and for that I am grateful". With each piece of her own work, Bertie felt, "This one is going to be better."
Bertie works either on location, sketching from nature, or in her home studio, sketching from slides. By working on location, she says she can work out perspective, shadow, texture, tone, color, in a more immediate way, sometimes she first paints a small painting, which she uses to work out problems before starting the larger piece. Of her method, she says, "You create an image in your mind that is so detailed and so vivid you think you are there."
Within a few short years, Bertie Marah became a full-fledged watercolorist, achieving regional recognition and acceptance at national shows. Bertie's awards include nearly every show on the western slope; Best of Show in Artist's Alpine Holiday show in Ouray; Grand Champion in a Brush and PaletteClub show in Grand Junction; acceptance in the Rocky Mountain National Water media Exhibition in Golden; as well as being selected for the "quick draw" artist in the C. M. Russell Show, and having her work featured on the cover of Colorado Cowboy Magazine.
Bertie is an emotional painter, but she mixes emotionalism with the discipline
of a working artist. Bertie is a realistic painter, but she portrays this
realism with warmth and sincerity. Her paintings tug at you, demand attention.
There is an energy, a freshness, a sparkle that sends the eye racing over every
inch of the paper. The artist's chronicle of nature can be su
Bertie works either on location, sketching from nature, or in her home studio, sketching from slides. By working on location, she says she can work out perspective, shadow, texture, tone, color, in a more immediate way, sometimes she first paints a small painting, which she uses to work out problems before starting the larger piece. Of her method, she says, "You create an image in your mind that is so detailed and so vivid you think you are there."
Within a few short years, Bertie Marah became a full-fledged watercolorist, achieving regional recognition and acceptance at national shows. Bertie's awards include nearly every show on the western slope; Best of Show in Artist's Alpine Holiday show in Ouray; Grand Champion in a Brush and PaletteClub show in Grand Junction; acceptance in the Rocky Mountain National Water media Exhibition in Golden; as well as being selected for the "quick draw" artist in the C. M. Russell Show, and having her work featured on the cover of Colorado Cowboy Magazine.
Bertie is an emotional painter, but she mixes emotionalism with the discipline
of a working artist. Bertie is a realistic painter, but she portrays this
realism with warmth and sincerity. Her paintings tug at you, demand attention.
There is an energy, a freshness, a sparkle that sends the eye racing over every
inch of the paper. The artist's chronicle of nature can be su
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