Lindy Harris Bruggink ’72 will never forget working on her first large painting project on the stage of Wilson Chapel. The resulting art wasn’t one she held on to – Lindy really wasn’t the artist behind it; she was more the brush.

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“Keep in mind those were the early days of free thinking … Somebody painted me from head to foot using rollers that you’d use to paint a wall,” she explained. “They then pulled me around by foot in a circular motion to form a design on large pieces of paper. I recall this happened just before lunch, and I had a hard time taking off the sticky clothing and getting all the paint out of my hair before I could eat.”

Immediately after MC, Lindy didn’t pursue her art. She recruited for the College, sold hospital supplies, wrote a chamber of commerce newsletter, surveyed old houses, got married and reared two sons. But at the age of 40, she picked up her brushes again.

“ … with my husband’s encouragement, I began to take a few classes at the Art League in Alexandria, Va., and before long, I was doing portraits,” she said. “I did the first one in my kitchen, and it took a year to complete. Now I have a real studio and all the time in the world. I belong to the Tallahassee, Fla.-based Portrait Society of America and continue to take classes from time to time at the Art League, lately in sculpture.

“I’ve also taught children and adults in my studio at home and at the Cathedral School and St. Albans School in Washington.”

The subjects of Lindy’s commissioned portraits are mostly judges, justices, women and children. The portrait of her most famous subject, Colin Powell, now hangs in the National War College Museum at Ft. Leslie McNair in Washington, D.C. Brigadier General Lee Denson, who was a classmate with Powell at the National War College, was responsible for commissioning Lindy and working with her while the portrait was being painted. He also joined her in visiting Powell at his office at the State Department, where the initial photographs were taken.

“I was impressed with how much taller Secretary Powell was than I suspected and with how fast he talked. Words seemed to jump out of his mouth quicker than I would have thought he had time to form ideas. I was impressed,” she said. “And although he didn’t enjoy having to pose for pictures, he was a good-humored man and fun to be around, as was his staff.

“I recall his administrative assistant telling me that only the week before, Paul McCartney had come to see Secretary Powell, and he had been as excited to see McCartney as I had been to see Powell,” she added. “It’s all relative, I guess.”

Some doggone good luck

“I suppose an ironic thing about my career is that my brush with fame all came about because of some dog hair that was stuck in the varnish of one of my portraits. Early on in any career you tend to make mistakes, and one of mine was not being careful with semi-wet varnish. I was traveling with a newly varnished painting in a car that frequently transported my dog and forgot to roll up the windows.

“To make a long story short, living in the Washington, D.C., area gave me access to the Smithsonian Institution, so I called the National Gallery and asked them what to do. A curator told me to call Page Conservation Inc., so I did. Arthur Page helped me with that problem and others down the road. He and his wife, Debbie, have become friends of mine and were the ones who found me the commission for the Colin Powell portrait.”