This time it's been toooo long

It's been far too long since my last update. I've just received a very subtle reminder from my good friend Cheryl in Canada, saying, "P.S. looking forward to an update on your blog :)" Well... what can a man do. Here it is.
This is a painting I produced on some Italian linen, primed and gessoed over a day or so, it was a lovely surface to work on. It was one of those paintings I could have just kept going on but all things come to an end and at least in this case, the end is also the beginning of a new work to be shown. I also wrote a few lines to go along with it that I have included below with the image.

And a big thank you to Cheryl for the prompting.

"Secret Window"
"Oil on Italian linen"

From death comes life in many forms

The seraphim and imps perform

To the ends of time and space I go

As they dance beneath my secret window

Here is where I now reside

Inside my head where I can hide

A world within but not without

Behind my secret window

You may dream from time to time

Until that damned alarm clock chimes

Awakens you from worlds of bliss

Veils drawn on your secret window

What do I see on this startling plain?

Too much of me, my joy and pain?

Stretched out on canvas for all to see

A glimpse into my secret window

These days I have no need for sleep

My stories in my head I keep

To close my eyes, is all I do

To reach my secret window

Long time ago I took a wife

For a while, the perfect life

But then she flew to a brighter sky

As I waited at my secret window

As time went by I found another

To me she was the perfect lover

Till life stepped in and left me sitting

At my secret window

And so I live from day to day

The final acts are still to play

My needs I know will be fulfilled

In the theatre of my secret window

A constant sound of angel’s bells

Or are they cries, the hoards of hell

I live and breathe this noise so shrill

Silence only in my secret window

I can’t say more, I’ve said enough

Life is good and bad, it’s tough

I live with what I haven’t got

And dream through my secret window

The secret window us our Self

For me there is no greater wealth

But think of others as we travel

Through our secret window

And for those who wear their heart on their sleeve

It’s for all the others we must grieve

For they’ll never ever get to see

The view from their secret window

We all have a place inside ourselves that is our and ours alone. Some will share this place, or portions of it, with others. It is the place where we have our greatest strengths. Those who share this secret place with others liberate the Self inside. This, I think, is what we humans call “LOVE”.

The level of the sharing is a measure of the love we are giving.

This is who I am.

This poem appears on The Inferno, writer's challenge and the painting you can find on The Artists Challenge

As it as been quite a while since my last update, here are a few more of my new works

"Fallen Angel"

watercolour and ink

"Fallen Ralph"

watercolour and ink

"Stilled Life"

oil on 'Gessoboard'

"Angel"

watercolour

"Pygmalion"
oil on canvas

"Kiss"
watercolour

"Desolation Row"
inspired by Bob Dylan's apocalyptic song and appearing on "The Artist's Challenge"
watercolour

"Kissing Stones"
watercolour

"Onward"
watercolour and body-colour


"Nightwalk"
watercolour

I hope you like them. Feel free to leave any comments or ask any questions. Thank you.
Gallery at www.aartvark.eu