‘The Gift’

This painting is a response to finding beauty in being lost and found. I found this fallen single bloom of a rhododendron on the bench in our garden. It was perfect, and amazingly fresh. It was if it had just been picked from the plant and left as a gift. The rhododendron plant is some metres away, and it was hard to see how this little bloom had arrived where it did.

I decided to not question the gift, but to accept it. I have always been taught never to question a gift, simply to accept it with thanks. Unexpected gifts often come to us when we most need them. At this time in my life I was accepting and coming to terms with tumultuous change and loss. A simple gift of a fallen flower was enough that day.

From the 'Memory of Place' Collection

The Gift (2025)
Watercolour on paper
25 x 25cm (unframed)

42 × 42cm (framed