Death Do Us Part

Acrylic on 9x12 canvas sheet

Available through DPW gallery/auction

This painting is my submission to this months Paint & Draw challenge. A very thought provoking photograph was uploaded for this months painting. Painting the glass was challenge enough, but add the fallen rose and the entire painting takes on a unique meaning.

Lela had posted the photo with the title "Betrayed Dreams" but we were also told that we could use our own title (and hence our own story). My title "Death Do Us Part" is a bit somber, I admit. Perhaps it is because I just quietly acknowledged the anniversaries of certain loved ones that have passed. Or maybe it's the autumn, with it's falling leaves followed by barren, stark trees that brought this to mind. Then again, it may just be the season - as the holidays always tends to make me a bit melancholy and reflective.

I saw the rose as a life that is ending - it is no longer being nourished by the liquid within the glass or vase. It's petals becoming dislodged as it falls to the table surface, leaving the glass gleaming still in the light. It reminded me of my mother when my dad had passed away suddenly. She was abruptly left alone - something that neither one had planned for in any way or sense. She appeared both as fragile as glass, but also she shone with a glow from having found a new sense of self. She had lost a part of herself - something that wasn't suppose to happen, but it did. And yet, she found a part of herself she didn't know she had.

And all of this brought to mind that simple vow that is spoken:  "till death do us part."