Study for "Charlie Mae and the Raccoon Tree"

Part of the beauty of childhood lies in the gift of belief. Cloar’s images take us back to a time when magic and fairy tales surrounded us and every path had a possibility of adventure. His childhood friendship with Charlie Mae gave him an endless supply of adventures to capture his imagination, staying with him even as an adult when he decided to put his memories to paper. Charlie Mae claimed that she would visit this raccoon tree every Mother’s Day, bringing them a treat of cornbread or fried apple pies, to keep them company after a hound dog caught their mother.

“Being at an age and a condition when anything was easy to believe—fairies, witches, the Second-Coming—I never paused to doubt any of the rather marvelous things Charlie Mae related to me.” ~Carroll Cloar, Hostile Butterflies, 1977