This single artist posted about Valentine’s on Facebook — then the suitors poured in.

When Brenda Pinkston, an exuberant 60-year-old artist, posted pictures from a random trip to an East Charlotte Dollar Tree, she never expected to touch hundreds of people and receive dozens of messages from friends and potential suitors on Facebook.

On Feb. 12, Pinkston went out shopping with her sister Crystal and stopped to pick up a few discount items. Pinkston, who describes herself as “a loving kind of person,” walked into the store and was overwhelmed by a Valentine’s display.

“Dollar Tree had a party going on early in the morning! There were balloons galore! I said, ‘Oh my God, this is beautiful. And I’m always open to love and beauty and joy,” she told CharlotteFive.

Crystal was less excited, noting they were all for Valentine’s Day. As both the sisters are currently single, “She said ‘Well, we won’t be getting any of these balloons.’ I told my sister I was getting all of them! Matter of fact, take pictures.”

Pinkston posted them to social media with the caption, “When you don’t have a man/husband but...LOVE is still on the menu!!”

Within an hour, she had over 50 responses co-signing and praising her outlook.

“Self love is key...with or without a man. He just magnifies it,” Thomas Harrington posted.

“Happy Valentine’s day Diva! That’s how you love yourself, by showering yourself,” Clematene Pinkston wrote.

“I’ll be your Valentine,” Tyrone Hammock simply stated.

“Life is about expression, no matter what your status or circumstance. There’s joy, happiness and love in everything. You just have to be open to it,” Pinkston said..

‘I stayed single on purpose for years’

Love hasn’t been the smoothest road for her. Pinkston, a retired web developer for the state of New Jersey, married in the early 2000s and had a child, but divorced in 2004.

“My daughter was very young, and I wanted to raise her without subjecting her to anything crazy. So although I socialized, I stayed single on purpose for years,” Pinkston said.

Her sister Crystal relocated to the Charlotte area in 1994, and after a few years of visits, she followed in 2006.

“I said I could do Charlotte. It’s a relaxed pace but still has a lot of culture, things to go do and see. The more I came, the more I liked it. I used to call it my summer home,” Pinkston said.

To ward off loneliness, Pinkston said, she actively practiced self love. “I’ve always been able to celebrate myself. I started with my birthday. A lot of single people don’t celebrate their birthdays. It’s the one day God gave you, how can you not?” she said with a laugh. “As you grow older you learn, you mature, but I’ve never felt bad on Valentine’s Day, whether single or not. You have to keep an optimistic attitude.”

When Pinkston’s daughter graduated high school and went off to college, she tried dating at BlackPeopleMeet.com, but found that meeting someone online wasn’t really her scene. “Some of the men were OK, and some were ... a lot. I went on maybe 1.1 dates, but I got stood up or I was bored. It was nice to talk to the opposite sex and say hello, but I didn’t run into anybody that caught my attention.”

Replacing dates with traveling, nature walks, entertainment and art

Instead, she chose to honor her own interests. Pinkston immersed herself in live entertainment: plays, concerts and comedy shows, as well as walks in nature, the parks and the lakefronts. She began traveling more, taking trips with her sister and friends every year.

“We went to Montego Bay, and it was a lot more fun than the dating site. Nobody you’d take home, but you really get to look somebody in the eye and feel their spirit. I got like three wedding proposals,” she said with a chuckle. “It’s a lot of fun.”

She also threw herself into creative passions. Both Pinkston and her sister are visual artists, painters who work in acrylic on canvas. They’ve been hosting monthly open houses, art crawls, paint parties and some private events at their gallery, Pinkston’s Art, for a decade. The space is two stories of richly rendered abstract and figurative work, located in their home.

Is love in the air?

Despite all the fun she’s been having, Pinkston hasn’t sworn off relationships permanently. Her online dating profile is still live, and she did get a number of interesting DMs from her post.

“The guys who contacted me, I may surf their Facebook page and see what they’re about. Why not?”

She says she likes a kind but strong spirit, someone who has a sense of purpose and direction. “Especially the season of life I’m in, they should know who they are by now,” she said. “You get in your older years, and a lot of people say ‘That’s it, it’s over for me.’ No! I’m 60, and I know I’m still alive, so I know everybody else at 60 still feels something, too. I’m open to the possibility of love.”

Despite the excitement and multiple offers for her time this holiday weekend, Pinkston’s calendar is in fact, full: She and Crystal are attending a family wedding.

“So we’re still going to be surrounded by love, anyway,” she said. “Hopefully, the hotel has a jacuzzi.”