“I painted the original for my cousin Judy. We have been very close since childhood and she is always very supportive of my art work.  Her husband died quite suddenly just before Thanksgiving about three years ago.  He had been a landscape architect and did wonderful landscape art work, in charcoal and water colors.

  My cousin always loved his artwork as well as the flower gardens he created around their home.  She has noted the butterflies and flowers I often paint into my canvasses;  she has told me many times that my artwork reminds her of her husband and she knows (as I do) what it means to lose a beloved spouse after decades together.  In winter, she mailed me a page from a calendar picturing a small butterfly nestled in some spring flowers, saying she thought I might like the image.

  My painting was inspired by the photo and I intended everything to be as bright as possible to make up for her no longer having her husband’s gardens around the home.  When I sent her one of the cards, she called to say she was framing it and hanging it by the porch door that would have led to the garden.  

  Art should impact us emotionally as well as cognitively, and she was moved by the painting — as I was when I saw the calendar photo.“