April 4, 2025
After carefully packing the entire four panels of the damaged artwork, we packed it into the large art moving box from U-Haul.
We used bubble wrap and U-Haul styrofoam corner proctors, along with bubble wrap corner protectors. We used a lot of tape to keep everything in place. The styrofoam corner proctors came with a strap to go around the corners to hold them in place. The strap didn’t work very well since we didn’t have a rectangle. With more tape, it seemed to work.
I didn’t take a picture of the artwork fully wrapped. I was busy holding the flaps on the box out of the way, while Bruce slid the artwork into the box.
Once the artwork was in the box, we put crumpled paper on the sides to keep artwork from shifting. We filled the top of the box with bubble wrap.
We just hope it doesn’t have any additional damage by the time it gets there.
We drove to Florence, AL to the UPS Store and sent it off to California.
We spent $544 to ship the artwork to the artist in California.

I am really looking forward to getting it back fully repaired!
Wow, that’s the largest shipping bill I’ve heard of. I hope the painting enjoys its spa vacation! 😂
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I was thinking it would be $200 to $300, so we had a bit of sticker shock.😳
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Is that for a round trip, or do you have to pay again to get it home?
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Unfortunately, I have to pay again to get it home.
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Maybe you two can plan a road trip and pick it up in person!
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While I would love to do that, the cost would be way more than the shipping!
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Does the artist live near your family so you could combine purposes?
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Unfortunately not. He lives in California and we don’t have any family there. My cousin who lives near Portland, Oregon is the closest family I have to in DeRubies. My cousin is currently doing invitational artist residencies in Europe. We (family) were so excited for her! This year, she’ll be living in Lisbon, Portugal.
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Wow, you have a talented family!
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I do! My nephew has won several art awards and competitions including the Congressional Arts Competition while attending the Mississippi School of the Arts (an arts high school). He’s in college now.
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Wow!
(My family is known for less reputable things. 😆)
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Not all my family is known for cool things! 🤣
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😆
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Wow. I hope it (and the artist!) appreciates your devotion to the piece, and takes good care to get it back to you.
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I am sure the artist will restore it to its former glory and carefully ship it back to us. It is my favorite piece of artwork that we own. I had it in the kitchen at our house in Golden, CO. It was the first thing I saw as I walked into the kitchen from the breezeway.
I enjoyed looking at it while kneading bread or any other task that didn’t require me to watch “the pink things” as Bruce would say.
You might enjoy the video on the artist.
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