Leoma Lovegrove helps trim the White House tree

When Matlacha artist Leoma Lovegrove was asked to create one of 350 ornaments for the White House Christmas tree, she happily obliged, painting a red, white and blue fish with the words "Pine Island, Fla., The Creative Coast."

It wasn't Ms. Lovegrove's ornament, however, that garnered the attention.

The artist often paints special clothes for important occasions, but she didn't have time to do so before she left for Washington, D.C. So she embellished her jacket, pants and shoes in her hotel room. Since the paint had not yet dried, she nearly set off alarms when it came time to go through White House security. Apparently, the paint contained something that alerted the guards.

In a room filled with artists, Ms. Lovegrove was the only one whose clothes made an artistic statement of their own.

The next morning, she and her husband, Michael

Silberg, delivered a thank-you note hand-painted by her and a poem written by him to the East Gate of the White House into the hands of the First Lady's social secretary. After obtaining the shoe size of First Lady Laura Bush, Ms. Lovegrove promised to paint her a pair of shoes like those she had done for herself.

Michael Silberg and Leona Lovegrove at the White House. That same morning, Ms. Lovegrove's ornament was one of four from this year's White House Christmas tree singled out by Mrs. Bush on "Good Morning America."