Stairway To Heaven

I did this painting in honor of my mother who recently passed on 21 Mar 2020, and for my wife’s mom who passed ten years earlier on 4 May 2010. My wife and I loved our mom’s dearly. I wanted to create something special for them. Oddly enough I finished the painting on Easter Sunday. As I was painting it (and I’m not making this up), I was listening to my favorite Rock station. I love old 70’s Rock music when a song started playing. You guessed it…. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” played. It was an emotional painting for me, but at the same time it was comforting knowing that both our mothers walked the Stairway To Heaven. I used 3 pine board planks glued together for my canvas.

Jesus

I did this painting for my mother. She is very religious. She lives in a Catholic assisted living home, and she is nearly 90. I burned the caption in with a burning tool. She absolutely loves it as well as all the nurses and visitors that come and see her. I live quite a ways from her (she is in Kansas and I’m in Illinois), so I have been giving her a call once a week for the last 5 years. Every week she talks about this painting I did for her. I’m glad that it makes her happy. That is all I ever need. I owe a lot to my mom for a lot of things. I love her dearly. My love for painting has been through her. She was an extraordinary artist in her day. There was something about this painting that I didn’t notice until sometime after it was completed. There is sort of an optical illusion about it. This was unintentional, but nevertheless it created an effect. When you stare at Jesus long enough you could say that he is staring straight down into the ground? That said you could also say he is looking to his left out into the desert? Personally, I’m really not sure? I believe the slight breeze through his hair helps create the illusion? What do you think?