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With her husband, Omar Lane, Madeiros has four daughters: Dianna, Betty, Angel, and Carol. She used her creativity to assist them with their school projects as they grew up. The paper mache llama that she made with her daughter, Betty; and daughter Carol\u2019s paper mache cat are still in her shop today, very much at home among vintage treasures and folk art that Madeiros created over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She explains folk art, \u201cFolk art is something from the heart. It\u2019s not something you were taught, just something you were born with. I paint things like I see and feel them. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m more creative than others; I\u2019ve just done what God led me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the late \u201870s, Madeiros discovered a lump in her breast. Although initially not taken seriously by her doctor, a subsequent appointment confirmed what she strongly suspected \u2013 cancer. Like everyone, her first responses had all the dips and turns of a theme park roller coaster but none of the thrills. The doctor gave options: do nothing and live a year or have a mastectomy and move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She remembers the trip home from the doctor\u2019s office on a gray, dreary day. \u201cMy husband was driving, and I was crying. As I looked across the field, everything changed and got as green and beautiful, as if to say, \u2018It\u2019s all okay, no matter what.\u2019 Well I came home, picked up the biggest stick I could find and went back to this old junk car we had, and I beat that car. I beat out the anger or self-pity or whatever I was feeling. And then I went back inside and knew what I had to do. And I did it. And I was okay.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of five children born to John Allison Yoes and Clara Yoes, her mother\u2019s passing grieved Madeiros deeply. She said, \u201cOne day I\u2019m sitting down in my shop, and I said, \u2018Lord, help me. What should I do? I am so in mourning over my losses.\u2019 And He said, \u2018Write something.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I don\u2019t write.\u2019 He said, \u2018Write it like you would write it.\u2019\u201d So I wrote and illustrated seven children\u2019s books: \u201cMs. Henny and Mr. Squirrel,\u201d \u201cAn Egg for Red,\u201d \u201cThe Little Christmas Bird,\u201d \u201cOld Farmer Man,\u201d \u201cAngel Girl,\u201d \u201cBitsy,\u201d and \u201cMemories of Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re all true stories. They\u2019re about the things I\u2019ve witnessed here on the farm. I painted them in the way I saw them happen. I can see and feel silly things. I have a childlike way about my art,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madeiros\u2019 husband, Omar, passed away in 2013, and her daughter, Betty, passed away only two years later. Again, art became her therapy. This time, though not intentionally, it was through nature photography that she shares on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her second nature is nature itself. Surrounded by God\u2019s creation at her hiltop home in rural Bedford County, Madeiros is never without inspiration for her photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love the animals, and I love the flowers. I love the things I see outside, and I praise God for them every day because they\u2019re here for me to praise Him. I\u2019ve lived on this hill for 61 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The animals understand her. \u201cI can talk to animals, and they get calm.\u201d \u201cBitsy\u201d is about a baby deer found by her son-in-law as he was cutting hay one year. She said, \u201cI took it in, and I felt my dogs knew it was wild, and they just went wild. I talked to them and told them, \u2018This is our baby, and we have to take care of it. And you don\u2019t bite.\u2019 They helped me raise that deer by licking it and grooming it, and it lived with them and slept with them until it got bigger and a buck came and took her away.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, Marie married William Madeiros, a native of Bermuda. On their honeymoon to Bermuda, she saw the beauty in God\u2019s creation; she sees it everywhere she goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent battle with lymphoma has not dampened her faith or her thankfulness for the gifts around her. In addition to her daughters, Marie has seven grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Chickens, roosters, donkeys, horses, goats, dogs, and a cat are family too. The menagerie talks to her, and she talks to them. But anchoring it all is her faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I got through it all\u2026 my faith. I knew that God was with me, no matter what. He said, \u2018Call my name, and I\u2019m already there. And when you have anything you\u2019re concerned about, call my name. I\u2019ll be right there next to you.\u2019 And I feel like I\u2019ve called His name many times whenever I was sad and down. And I felt like He came; He was there already. But I felt like He was holding my hand.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Faith has fueled Bedford County artist Marie Lane Madeiros’ art and life, giving her strength to grow through hardship with love. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC_7788-1024x683.jpg\")