This work in progress is an Ode to a Loved One. The loved one is my father who passed away several years ago. He was a landscape architecht and in this is the image of a Ginko tree, the oldest know tree that has no natural plant diseases it succombs to. My father loved this tree among many others. The faces on the tree are those of his grandchildren whom he was devoted to. In the background is Syria, the Atlantic Ocean which he crossed to come to live in Margate, NJ. A short time after my father died I was driving through my town of Highland Park and passed a garage sale. There was a very large lantern layed out on the lawn among other garage sale items. Intrigued I had to stop and inquire about the lantern. What I found out was that the lantern was from Damascus, Syria! Well that is where my father was born and lived for the first 14 years of his life. I had to purchase that ande this brass frame you see in the picture. The owner of the frame and lantern had worked and traveled in Syria and said that there was a shop in Damascus hand making these lanterns. So I took a piece from my father's childhood with us to our new home when we moved. This was filled with meaning to me bring a piece of past with us. I now am working on this oil on this panel who thanks to Lucky Jo for a bottle of wine cut to fit the frame for me. Thanks Jo. It seems so fitting to use this frame from Damascus, my dad's birthplace, to encircle his final resting place across the ocean.
The Writing is the Eulogy my brother Joe wrote. It is absolutely beautiful, Joe you are a wonderful writer. I couldnt express anything better than this.