I attended a workshop in Taos, NM on abstract painting with Gwen Fox. To date, I had only painted representationally and had just dipped my toe into the water of abstract painting. Gwen gave a small lesson and then told us all to paint. I asked what we should paint and she said "Anything!" I was overwhelmed without any boundaries. For the first three days of the workshop, I was frustrated and ready to quit. Robert, my then fiancé, told me he would take me home if I wanted, but he told me he thought I could do it. I continued to the end of the workshop and this painting (in what I thought was its finished state) was the result. On the last day of the workshop I asked Gwen if I was "any good" and whether I was truly an artist. She said that I should keep painting and that I was an artist.

After I got home and continued to look at the painting, I realized I wasn't quite happy with it and continued to work on it. When I finished it, I sent a picture to Gwen. She told me that the fact that I knew it wasn't finished and kept going until I was happy was the sign that I was an artist. Since then, I haven't looked back and am continually looking for new ideas and inspiration.

I painted this as a gift to Robert, who was my fiancé at the time, in honor of our upcoming wedding. If you look on the backs of the two figures, you will see the words, "to have and to hold from this day forward." The blue drips are the tears in our pasts (we are both widows) that have brought our stories together.