Moonstone Rose

Original Sold

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One of the masters who inspires my work is Joseph Raffael. In and email update of his work was a painting of pale roses with pink edges called “Roses Reverie” that knocked my socks off – and it kicked off a hunger in me to paint something like it.

Then, I took photos of some Moonstone roses in my back yard. There just wasn’t a composition of a group of them like he had painted that worked. But this single rose did. I just loved the way that one petal curled out to the right.

As it turns out, this painting is not so much about the rose, though. The way the light landed on the leaves and the way they stretch out like a dancer’s arms is the why of this painting. I left the main bud to the end, (with most of my paintings I paint the “centerpiece” last) and it was actually anti-climactic – I’d already done my favorite part!

Now, when I look at this painting I see elegance and self-assurance, I think of the first two lines of one of my favorite poems: “St Francis and the Sow” by Galway Kinnell and the powerful meaning this poem has had for me.

“The bud stands for all things, for all things flower from within of self blessing.”

January 2007 – 30″x22″ – Watercolor on paper