I sent off the last two Love Notes two days ago, apart from the one that I have kept for myself.
Love Notes
A Series of 12 Paintings
2004
In 2004, I took up running along the ridge and down on to the lower trail along the Bow River. I had stopped to take a break at a random point. It was shady. I was completely alone, and to the right of me, the river flowed a blue green. I bent to tighten my laces, when at my toe, I saw a single rose. Bewildered, I picked it up and held it in my hand, looking. I spoke out loud at that time and said, “If this is some sort of a sign, Lord, thank you.”
I had lost at love again. It had become a ritual with me in my life. This time I was stumped and struggling to get back on track. The rose was a gift for me, a gift of healing.
Just next to the path and under some trees, I found a bench. I decided to sit and rest there for a time. I didn’t notice them at first, but there, hung by ribbon from the trees, were eleven roses. I gasped. All of a sudden, I felt that the space, the landscape and the river were more sacred. Something had happened at this location or someone special/an event had been remembered. I sat quietly for the longest time. Instead of continuing on a run, I turned for home, the rose still in my cupped hand.
I decided to paint a dozen roses…nostalgia, memory, love, symbols…
Eleven people have now received a Love Note…I have kept the one. The process: I flipped the paintings over in a grid of twelve and I wrote out my own love note, left to right, from top to bottom. Writing had, over the years, become an essential practice for me...this, along with exploring the visual world…objects…landscape…faces.
The original rose that I found at my toe remains in my studio, a reminder of the lessons taught in my favourite book, Le Petit Prince par Antoine de Saint-Exupery. If you received a Love Note, I would love to hear from you…and hear about the moment when you received a painting gift from me. I would enjoy reading your love note to me.
Touching, precious and beautiful…
Thank you, John…it was a response to a beautiful moment given to me. When one has a spiritual/emotional experience, it usually leads to creation for you and me.