Erin Napier will never stop finding ways to honor her friend Mandy Buchanan after her death. Buchanan, an artist, appeared on Napier’s HGTV show Home Town, as did her work.
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Even after her death, Napier was able to feature her friend’s work and talk about their friendship on her show. One episode focused on Suzie, Buchanan’s cousin, deciding if she wanted to renovate her parents’ home after their deaths.
Suzie referred to Buchanan as her “lifelong best friend,” revealing that her own mother died shortly after her beloved cousin.
“In less than three months’ time, I’ve lost two of the most important people in my life,” Suzie said. “The fact that we get to be a part of something as special as this has really helped.”
As Buchanan’s paintings are highlighted, Napier tells Suzie “Well, I’m excited to use your vast collection of Mandy’s work, no matter where it is.”
“My whole life, I’ve loved Mandy’s work,” Napier said. “Mandy was a good friend of mine. She was a real artist. I’ve included her paintings in so many of the houses that we’ve done.”
According to her obituary, Buchanan died on Nov. 16, 2022 in her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi.
“Her talents will be most remembered through her beautiful artwork that is lovingly displayed in countless homes, churches, and businesses bringing smiles to the faces of anyone who encounters them,” the obituary reads.
Napier also paid tribute to her friend after her death in an Instagram post.
“My friend @mandybuchanan,” she wrote in the caption that accompanied a clip from Home Town. “But before she was my friend, she was a famous painter in my teenage mind: an equal with Van Gogh or Monet. I would see her work hanging in the most well appointed homes and hear her name, not knowing she was a local girl who lived just down the road from me.”
“She was effervescent,” she wrote, adding Buchanan “bubbled and glowed.”
“She and her joyful, energetic art were inseparable: she painted her plucky spirit into every piece. The world lost her to cancer yesterday, and while we felt that grim moment coming for a few days, the loss of her light and love in this city and all the ways she volunteered and made people feel special is so profound. We couldn’t prepare for this kind of sadness.”