#1 Painting in "The Forbidden Fruit Series", Titled, "The Blossoming of a Rose in a Starless Night". This colored pencil painting is the first in "The Forbidden Fruit" series. It is the most forbidden fruit of all because it is about Van Gogh's suicide and my conclusions, after readiing four biographies about his life, that he used himself as his last canvas, a gun as the paint brush, and his blood as the paint. I read in a book about Van Gogh that he took his easel out to a field and shot himself in the chest. Immdiately, artistic speculations and ideas arose in my surrealist mind. Ah, ha, I immediately thought; Van Gogh used himself as his last canvas. I asked myself, "where is the paint palette, the paint brush, the paint and the canvas. Therefore, this picture fully expresses, in my own surrealistic style, my own personal conclusions, whether, right or, wrong. This painting will become a very important classic in the artistic autobiography of my life. I am not at all condoning suicide, or even accepting it as an option, but I have been as low as a person can possibly get, therefore, I do fully and totally understand how people feel when they are that low; AND TO THAT I SAY, WHAT MY MOTHER-IN-LAW KEPT SAYING TO ME DURING THAT PERIOD OF MY LIFE, "It rains and it rains and it rains, but sooner, or later, that sun always comes out again", and I have totally lived the truth of those precious words and indeed found them to be correct. The last 19 years of my life have been the absolute best years of my life, and six times back in 1989, I almost wasn't around anymore to see them come and injoy them. That is why I call the last 19 years of my life, "The Resurrection Years". THEREFORE, HANG IN THERE, FIGHT BACK FOR YOUR SELF-IMAGE AND YOUR SELF-RESPECT, AND RISE UP FROM THE QUICKSAND OF SELF-PITY THAT IS TRYING TO DESTROY YOU AND TAKE BACK YOUR SELF-RESPECT AND YOUR SELF-IMAGE AND THEN, MAKE THE FUTURE THE MOST HAPPIEST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE. copyright 2005