Finished Products...

Here you can see the final version of the Tuscan and flower windows.  The small children with whom I had the pleasure of interacting declared, "I like your poster!" 

A documented process of the flower windows, beginning with green lines...

then adding lighter green lines...

and then adding flowers...

framing the door...

how the pieces interact in the space...

close ups...

Confession: because these I had painted these themes before, I began to lose the feelings of wonder and of magic that usually accompany the immediate and satisfying transformation of a space.  However, just as I was packing up to leave, some clients and staff walked in to give the work a review.  One woman just stood in front of the paintings, looking at them so hard and long that I began to wonder if she liked them at all.  I nervously fidgeted, until she whispered, "They're gorgeous."

Her awe made me feel almost embarrassed (I did not feel worthy of such admiration).  "It's like the flowers are just popping out of the wall and into my hand!" she said.  It was in that sentence she gave the magic back to me.  I had forgotten that I was giving these flowers TO her.  They were for her -- a small gesture perhaps, but an intimate gesture from the imagination and the heart of one human being to another.  The power of a gift, no matter how small, is not to be underestimated.  The way she received and appreciated the gift made me remember the one unspoken rule of gift-giving: there must be joy.  Her happiness in turn brought me happiness; and I thank her for reminding me that art is not only about the image but about the exchange of love and of humanity that each brushstroke holds dear.