Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511060001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-24 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: OLIVIA SHORTER SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Long
Eighty years ago, Litteral was born in Dublin, in the same house she lives in now. Her white, two-story home, located in Dublin's oldest neighborhood, is filled with a lifetime of artwork.
Landscapes and still lifes in oil and watercolor deck the walls, hand-painted Limoges boxes and German china fill glassed-in cabinets, and delicate bejeweled eggs decorate tables and ledges throughout the house.
With dexterity that belies her age, the softspoken woman gently opens one of her favorite eggs. It layers out to reveal portrait after portrait of Virginia's wildflowers. Columbines, dogwoods, lady slippers and wild roses done in shades of crimson, lavender, green and blue are breathtakingly perfect.
Although she is working on several eggs and 15 Limoges pieces, Litteral feels she has slowed down a little bit with age. "I can't walk very well anymore, but I refuse to let my disability disable me.
"I've worked on a schedule for so long that now I just do as I please. I have a lot of friends that visit me; I paint; and I watch a soap opera or two. I don't clean house, and I don't go by recipes. We eat when we get hungry, we go to bed when we get sleepy, and at 80, life's better than it's ever been, thanks to my son."
Litteral, a widow who lives with her son Eric, has led an artistic life. "I just follow my instincts," she said. Her mother and father were both avid painters, and her father also directed Dublin's very first band. She was an only child, "spoiled rotten" she believes, and her parents taught her about art, with regular trips to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and museums in New York.
One incident in particular, however, made Litteral work harder at her goal of becoming an artist. "When I was in first grade at Dublin Elementary, only students who couldn't do anything else were allowed to use wax crayons. One day I finished my homework early, and I swiped a box of wax crayons. My teacher saw me, took a ruler and smacked my palms until they bled. In later years, she visited me and told me she was sorry about that. I told her not to be. I was glad, because she had given me more determination than anything that ever happened."
Crayons soon led to brushes, and painting became Litteral's first love. She continued her education at Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University. There she learned how to paint with oils and watercolors, talents she has used for 60 years.
When she returned to Dublin, Litteral worked as a school secretary at the old Dublin High School and the elementary school. She painted and taught art in her spare time. One of her former art students, Mary Jane Dudley, who still lives down the street from Litteral, has a portrait of a little boy and his dog that Litteral helped her paint when she was 10. Dudley remembers the lessons fondly: "We just used to look forward to going to her house because she was so much fun. My mom knew Dorothy painted most of [the picture] anyway."
After 22 years, Litteral retired from the school system and decided to use her creativity to paint porcelain. She began to sell her floral hand-painted porcelain to the Cumbow China Decorating Co. in Abingdon.
The owner of the shop had studied art in Paris, which Litteral found impressive. "I asked her to give me lessons. When I showed her my work, she said she didn't have time to teach, but she would buy all that I would paint; and when I made a mistake, she would tell me," Litteral said. "And she bought everything."
When the china shop closed 12 years later, she found yet another outlet for her creativity and began turning goose, ostrich, turkey, chicken and quail eggs into intricately decorated ornaments.
Litteral said that learning how to make the eggs right took some time. "I had a neighbor that made some. I went to egg shows; I bought books; and I broke eggs," she said.
With hinges, a saw, strands of jewels, and tiny figurines, Litteral has made hundreds of decorative eggs. One egg opens up to expose that it's really made of five, each one smaller than the last. When it's completely unfolded, the interior is lined with vibrant pink satin and strings of rose quartz. It resembles a perfectly shaped water lily.
Another egg is topped with a teardrop pearl, and the very first necklace and watch her father gave her are set into the shell. The back of the egg has a door; inside, there is a tiny mouse. "He's running up the clock," Litteral explained.
As much as she likes doing eggs, she's decided that at 80, it's time to move on to another artistic pursuit. "I'm most interested in painting Limoges boxes now. They're very tiny and they come from France," Litteral said.
Her workroom is filled with these dainty boxes in various stages of creation. Classical music plays in the background as she exhibits her newest passion. "Pink roses are my favorite thing to paint," Litteral said as she pointed out porcelain boxes topped with pastel floral patterns.
Litteral's artwork is much in demand. "I have very few pieces left. I've got to get to work," she said. Companies in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Indiana buy her creations.
Her neighbors are right there to buy anything she might have left over. "We've shipped her eggs across the country because we want to send something uniquely local to our friends," said Betty Cox, Litteral's next door neighbor.
Dallas Cox, Betty's husband said," She's one of those people who are aware of the better things in life. It's kind of rare to find them; and when we do, we need to nourish them."
by CNB