Leoma Lovegrove says her love affair with Matlacha will continue

By PAULETTE LeBLANC pleblanc@breezenewspapers com

Although the decision to sell her Matlacha gallery did not come easily, Leoma Lovegrove said both her home and gallery were destroyed when Hurricane Ian hit Pine Island resulting in more than her heart can bare

“Twenty-eight years of work were essentially destroyed in three hours At first we had everything cleaned out, and we were like, let s do this, we can do this but then it just got too depressing to cross over and go by all our friends who lost their homes ” Lovegrove said

Although the desire to rebuild was strong she said it was overshadowed by other huge projects she’s undertaken, leaving her without the necessary time it would take to do everything

In an effort to recreate the history of Matlacha, she s been painting shingles left from the local roofs and either giving them away or selling them

I have like 300 of them so I paint every morning

Lovegrove said

Having set her sights for a new gallery in downtown Fort Myers, the artist admits the most important thing now is getting settled in so she can continue to paint After hear- ing the news regarding the post-hurricane destruction of her gallery the Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda invited Lovegrove to be their featured artist

The news couldn t come at a better time, since Lovegrove approximates having lost $800,000 worth of inventory

“We were getting ready for this big season -- we would see 1 000 people a day before this hurricane ” Lovegrove said Her work on the island continues, as Lovegrove has plans to refurbish the mural in the Matlacha Post Office

The work originally scheduled for October she said will most likely take place in February

The people of downtown Fort Myers have welcomed Lovegrove with open arms she said as she was fortunate to have closed on a condominium there just two weeks before the hurricane athrough Lovegrove said she s an island girl at heart who will always be a part of Matlacha

We still own a home in Matlacha, we re not abandoning Matlacha I’m actually going to have a little Matlacha corner at my new place in Fort Myers and I’m going to promote the businesses there as well it’s been such a huge part of my life My love affair with Matlacha will continue, Lovegrove said