“Survivor Reaching for the Light,” Susan Donley, 2007. Colored pencil and Neocolor II on 9×12 inch Pastelbord.

I’ve always been a dandelion fan, from the days when I picked bouquets of them for my mom. The very thing I love most about them — their ability to grow and thrive anywhere — is exactly what puts them on lawn fanatics’ “Most Wanted” list. Give them a tablespoon of dirt and they’ll put down roots, send up shoots, and push their sunny blossoms skyward! Every time I see a dandelion making a go of it from a crack in a sidewalk, I can’t help but smile at their optimism and determination.

Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer at the height of dandelion season. From the moment I heard those words, “It’s cancer” to my surgery three weeks later, my heart never left my throat. My bone-chilling fear eased only when I took walks around the neighborhood. The neighborhood birds reminded me that “His Eye is On Sparrow.” The neighborhood dandelions were in full bloom, the perfect parable of survival, growing in lawns, through weed-smothering mulch, and out of cracks in the road. They not only survived, they thrived!

One particularly determined survivor spoke to me from our neighbor’s steps. Growing in dense shade in a crack in the mortar between the bricks, its profuse blooms reached out to the sunlight that only appeared a short few hours out of the day. What a symbol of hope! I took several photos of it, though I hardly need the photos to conjure its image from my mind, it has become such a part of me by now.

When Ann Kullberg announced that dandelions were the theme for her Member Theme Show this year, I had to honor my dandelion co-survivor! I took the opportunity to try the new technique of working with colored pencil over an underpainting with Neocolor 2 on Pastelbord.

During the close observation that drawing demands, I realized this dandelion, was actually two different plants of different species. I think there’s a potent lesson to be learned in that, as well!