Alexandra - 8x10in Acrylic on Canvas Original Art by retailer Billie Dean Shoemate III

This is an original, unframed painting by Billie Dean Shoemate III. Art is acrylic on unframed canvas, as well as signed and dated. Billie Dean Shoemate III is the grandson of a Bob Ross (yeah, that Bob Ross) trained painter. Billie's grandmother was a master painter, and Billie studied her as well as Bob, his whole life. Not picking up a brush until her unfortunate passing, Billie quickly learned that all his observing gave him an eye for creating amazing original art. Wanting to go more his own way, he still uses his grandmother's brushes, but creates more abstract works derived from the world he sees around him. "All my paintings contain a part of her spirit, I think," Billie states. "Every home should have her in it, I always thought. Every family should know her. Now, in a sense, they can." Billie Dean Shoemate III lives in Paducah, Kentucky with his family and runs Asylum817 Productions, a label for all his artistic endeavors. Novelist, musician, and painter, an artist through and through, he is an artist in the classic sense - not shying away from any medium.

This painting was made in memory of a close personal friend of the artist. A lifelong sufferer of MS, she passed away at the age of only 29. This art was made to commemorate her bravery, her smile in the face of struggle, and her beauty in life. This painting is dedicated to all who suffer from this terrible retailer disease.