HOT SPRINGS — Local artist Ernest Nipper donated two paintings to St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs.
Nipper and his wife, Rosemary, presented the paintings to Dr. Manjusha Kota, Dr. P.K. Reddy and Dr. David Pruitt at the Mercy Cancer Center.
One painting, Rio Grande Clouds, will remain in the offices of Kota and Reddy in the Mercy Cancer Center. Nipper valued the work of art at $1,500. The 30-by-30-inch acrylic painting on canvas features the 600-foot-deep canyon created by the Rio Grande River near Taos, N.M.
The other painting, Pagosa Springs Sunset, was donated to the St. Joseph’s Mercy Relay for Life team. The work will be auctioned off at a later date to provide funds to be donated. It is a 16-by-20-inch acrylic painting on canvas and features a sunset in Pagosa Springs, Colo.
After retiring in 1988, Nipper, a Camden native, moved to Sunset Bay on Lake Hamilton outside of Hot Springs. Nipper started drawing again and “immediately fell in love with the process of putting paint on canvas.” To learn more about Nipper, go to www.ernestnipper.com.