This painting was Inspired by an old sepia family photograph of a woman in a flowered hat. The photo was a bit hazy and indistinct, so I opened my mind to play. I knew the title was going to be “Garden Party”. My Muse kept telling me to add different flowers, fruit, and birds, and this is the final result. I look at her and realize that she is Gaia, the Earth Goddess, walking through a barren world consumed by storms. She is the earth in bloom, attracting life, asking it to stay alive. “Join my party, she says, I will bless you with my love. Have hope, and bloom again.”