CRYSTAL BEACH — Courtney Alison Daniel's winning entry at the Crystal Beach Youth Art Show is acrylic on canvas, a silhouette of a woman with arms outstretched. She is about to ascend toward the sun, leaving behind an eerie mist topped with barren trees.
The painting is dated April 21, 2011. It was painted four months before Daniel died of a drug overdose.
When Pat and Joe Daniel learned that the Crystal Beach Youth Center was sponsoring an art show, they decided to enter their daughter's untitled work, along with another sketch of the Hindu god Ganesh, posthumously.
"By sharing her work, maybe we can save someone else's daughter,'' said Pat, a retired Pinellas County teacher.
Courtney, who was six days shy of her 18th birthday when she died, had been struggling with anxiety and was taking the prescription medication clonazepam. However, without her parents' knowledge, she had also obtained oxycodone. The mix was fatal.
"We didn't know she took the oxycodone until we received the (autopsy report) three months after she died,'' said Pat, 62. "And we don't know if it was the first time she had taken it. It could have been. I don't think Courtney knew mixing the drugs was a killer.''
"It's important for parents to recognize that their teenagers think they are bulletproof,'' added Joe, 63. "They think they are special — and yes, they are to family and friends — but not special enough to survive this type of thing. The law of physics applies to everybody."
Courtney was one of those kids who drew all the time — and everywhere, Joe said.
"The first mural she did was when she was about 18 months old. She had made her way into a room away from us, and we went to get her. We found that she was involved drawing a mural that started on the phone and went across the wall.''
At Leila G. Davis Elementary and Safety Harbor Middle schools, Courtney excelled both academically and artistically. In 2003, her art was selected for the state division of the PTA Reflections competition.
Her fifth-grade teacher, Loretta Miller, described her as a gifted child who did not like repetitive tasks and whose parents were "always there if nudging was needed,'' Miller said. "(Courtney's death) debunks the myth that things like that only happens in broken homes.''
As a freshman and sophomore at Countryside High School, Courtney continued to excel, and her junior year she was accepted into the Early College program through St. Petersburg College. However, soon after she turned 16, Courtney was in a car accident and suffered a concussion.
"She rolled her car and it affected her,'' Pat said. "We didn't realize it but she went back to school too soon after the accident. She was not able to keep up at the college level, and the next semester (the administration) told her she had to go back to the high school. She was devastated.''
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Explore all your optionsOnce back at Countryside, Courtney began experiencing panic attacks and she couldn't shake the anxiety, Pat said. Eventually, with her parents' approval, she opted to leave the school. She took the General Educational Development test.
During the months leading up to her death, Courtney had a flurry of creative energy.
"I saw it as a positive,'' Joe said.
She visited relatives in Washington state, and posted picture after picture on Facebook for her mom and dad to see back home.
She was also planning her birthday celebration. Two days before she died, Courtney and Pat had gone shopping and Courtney had found a pair of platform shoes. "She had to have those shoes. She was planning to wear them to celebrate her birthday in Ybor City.''
And in the spring and summer, she'd invite a friend over and spend hours painting, including the untitled acrylic. "I've always felt it is a self-portrait,'' her mom said. "She's rising from the mist to the light. In life, she was set to improve herself.''
On the morning of Aug. 18, 2011, when Courtney did not come out of her room, Pat decided to check on her. "The night before I had said good night to her and she went to bed. In the morning, when she didn't wake up, I went in to check on her and that's when I found her.''
Barb Witlin is an art therapist who founded the Crystal Beach Youth Art Show seven years ago. She believes the Daniels' willingness to share Courtney's art can be an invaluable gift to others.
"For parents, pictures can be the adolescent's way of reaching out,'' she said. "What this 17-year-old girl painted is so intense, and there seems to be two parts. There's a beautiful woman who seems to be blooming, but at the bottom there is mist that one could seem to get lost in.''
Courtney's untitled work received two cash prizes totalling $130 during the show — a second place in the 17-and-younger category and the Mary Lowe Award, named for a local artist and longtime instructor at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. Pat and Joe immediately gave the winnings back to the show's organizers. According to Witlin, the money will be used toward creating the Courtney Alison Daniel Award.
Pat's visit to the Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce, where the winning art work is on display throughMonday, was difficult, she said.
"All I wanted to do was to take the painting off the wall and bring it back home so it could be safe,'' she said. "I know it's safe there, but it's so precious to me.''
Contact Piper Castillo at pcastillo@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4163. Follow @Florida_PBJC.