Page 35 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2018

imagination went much further by dressing them in outfits. “It couldn’t just be a blue bird with a hat on. The blue bird had to have a hat, a goatee, maybe a cane and carry a briefcase,” Sarah said. “Maybelline is all dressed up with a pin, bracelet, necklace and high heels. She lives a life.”
She added, “The more I got into it, the easier
it got because these were fictitious characters and they all had personalities and they all had a reason for being on the printed page.”
Sarah also painted the 56 species of birds that are referenced in the book as they look in the wild, and those images are on the book’s end papers.
Mother and son will be hitting the road together by mid-October on a publicity tour. “I may
end up in the back seat,” Sarah joked. Sarah and her husband, Billy Hewes
Sr., raised three sons — Billy Jr., Charlie and Michael. They have nine grandchildren. When Michael
became the father of three sons — Holden, Jack and Rush — Sarah told
him it was “payback time.”
Michael published his first book, Watermark,
in 2016, and he’s almost completed his second novel. Sarah wrote a book, Eli & the Rifle, using the Appalachian dialect in memory of her parents.
“Michael is a fabulous writer. Everyone who has read this can’t get over how his mind worked to put it together. It’s so creative,” Sarah said.
Michael has equal praise for his mother. “This book would not have been sold to a publisher if he hadn’t seen her paintings. He saw her paintings and said ‘we are done.’”
Artist Sarah Hewes Sarah Hewes discussing her paintings with her son, Michael Hewes, the writer. FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net September 2018 • SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living 35