Losing a Blog Friend

Shelagh Ann McNab-Duffett

JANUARY 8, 1955 – JUNE 24, 2020

Sixteen years ago my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a cruise on the Queen Mary to New England and Canada.  On a stop in Nova Scotia, we stopped into the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market.  Walking among the booths and cafes inside the market, I picked up a brochure about the vendors and saw photos of whimsical paintings by folk artist Shelagh Duffet, who sold her paintings and prints in the market on the weekends.  I instantly became a fan of her many charming and colorful cat paintings!

Their bright colors and cozy scenes made me smile.  The brochure linked to Shelagh's blog "Alice In Paris Loves Art and Tea," which was one of the first blogs I ever read! (It was on a "Vox" website back then and only called "Art and Tea," until Shelagh moved it to Blogger with a longer title.)  We began to "converse" through her delightful blog, and became friends keeping our blog friendship all these many years!

I actually blogged about Shelagh back in 2008--click here to read that post-- when I began blogging myself and introduced her to all my readers, many who have told me they also became fans of her work.  I was a brand new grandmother back then and bought some prints from Shelagh's ETSY shop to decorate my baby grandson's room, and I also bought some of her adorable cat prints for my daughter. It was always a joy to see a new painting by Shelagh and to acquire her yearly cat-themed calendars.

Another favorite theme that Shelagh painted were scenes from her beautiful part of Nova Scotia and fanciful flowers. She also took outstanding photographs and sold quite a few.  Over the years Shelagh also published a cookbook of family and friends' favorite recipes and a children's book called "CATalphabet" which is the ABC's illustrated with her brilliant and joyful cat paintings. 

Like most bloggers, Shelagh joined Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, but mainly used Facebook and would always leave cheerful and encouraging posts there almost every day, and I felt like we all got to know her even better.  When the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine occurred in March she began a journaling group on Facebook to encourage her readers to journal their thoughts and gave us wonderfully creative journaling" prompts" each day or so.   

Her last big effort was "Wild" -- a fundraiser Art Exhibition in support of Nova Scotia Nature Trust, held in February. The Facebook page is here.  Ten artists, including Shelagh,  held the event in support of The Nova Scotia Nature Trust's Campaign called "SAVE the WILD BLUE" protecting the Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area, an area that was important to Shelagh.   I know Shelagh worked very hard on this event and was thrilled to have it be a success.

I received this cheery postcard from Shelagh towards the beginning of May.  It was the last time I would hear from her. Sadly, she passed away on June 24 after a very brief battle with cancer. Her husband said she had stomach pains for a while but put off seeing her doctor because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Finally, in May, her pains became worse and she found out she had inoperable pancreatic cancer.  She entered hospice and died peacefully, surrounded by her family. Her obituary can be read here.   Her family plans on re-opening Shelagh's ETSY shop in the future, which I hope will help prints of her painting continue to bring joy to all.

I will miss you, Shelagh! It is amazing that although we never met we became such good friends and shared each other's worlds through our blogs and social media. You brought much joy to me and beautiful memories of you will forever be in my heart. 

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