Farewell

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On the way back from a late autumn trip to Tahoe in 2015 we made a stop at UC Davis Med Center in Sacramento. John, Joe’s flying mentor, who had COPD, had gotten sick. It progressed into pneumonia putting him into the hospital with the expectation that he was likely not going to come back from this one. Since I’d only seen John once or twice in passing, I stayed away while they had their time together.

Right next to the hospital was a lovely rose garden, giving me plenty to occupy myself with. Though it was late in the season, and some of the roses were about finished, there were still quite a few that had painting-promise.

I followed a honey bee around for a while – always happy for the prospect of another rose+bee painting. But this was the image that won out. It’s not the first under side of a rose that told me to paint it, but this one had two-tone color, cute curled petals and a crazy-fun – but super detailed! – background to add to the allure.

I started painting at the beginning of 2018, but this one mostly sat on the back burner for two years. I brought out to work on it on only I needed something small enough to paint at the beach on Kauai – that is – until the start of 2020 when I thought: Ok, it’s time to get this one done! We were on Kauai again in January and I added yet more sand to my tiny travel palette as I hopped with my brush around the petals and leaves at the beach.

John left his earthly body a few days after Joe’s visit. Though he was still here when I took the photo, I see the rose looking skyward, following John’s final takeoff. We are all here such a short time, even if we get to live to a ripe age. Never before in my life has this felt more real as it does now, as I write this in June of 2020.

I see this brightly colored, late-season rose as a reminder that we can really live – be really alive – all the way to the end, just as John did.

2018 – 2020 – 15”x15” – Watercolor on paper