Mosaic, A Love Story

What does one do when the love of one’s life dies unexpectedly?

It was a happy marriage, true partners in life and in work for more than 30 years. All through his campaigns and 2 terms as a senator, through the ups and downs of owning an art gallery and eventually discovering a new level of success together in real estate - these two truly loved each other.

They not only loved each other but were true livers of life - they lived fully and with heart.

When she died of sepsis following a routine surgery, he was stunned and devastated. How do you make peace with losing the love of your life with whom you walked every day of life?

Six months into grieving he knew that he needed something to be involved in; he hungered for something meaningful and maybe even hopeful that wouldn’t interfere with his grieving but actually be a catalyst.

The space ready for the mosaic, 3' x 5'

He decided that working on an art project about his wife fit the bill. By it’s very nature a creative project was a contradiction to his loss and therefore ideal. Additionally they had shared a well developed love of art so this felt right.

Working out the palette

Lucky me that I came to his mind for this project, what an incredible honor.
Given the subject matter, I knew I would need more than the usual 3-6 months to develop this mosaic. I wanted the process to be a rich experience and the finished piece to lift my client’s heart each time he would look at it.

I worked and reworked this drawing, it was a mess by the end!

Initially it was tempting to make this a mosaic of mourning, one of lost love since he was fully immersed in a palpable sadness and mourning when he contacted me. I knew however that in the long term a mosaic that brought him lightness was going to have more longevity. It would serve as a beautiful and pleasing memorial rather than to hold the heavy presence of loss and sadness.

Cutting the clay

His wife and her sisters had an inside joke that they were the “three sisters” from the Native American story about the symbiotic relationship of corn, beans and squash. She was the squash of the three so my client thought making a squash plant the central component of the mosaic would honor her well.

I love this because at first glance it’s not the most of striking plant but once you spend a little time getting to know it, you discover that the squash is a treasure of a plant. This is how his wife was as well - an understated jewel. When most people think of a beautiful plant, the squash doesn’t come to mind, but as I was sketching squash plants I fell in love with them. Firstly, they are generous - they bear an overabundance of gracefully shaped fruit that last well on the vine. They spread out gently, not invasively and the leaves are so beautifully shaped. I looked at lots of varieties of squash and fell in love with the shape of the fruit and leaf of every single type.

To help me get a broader sense of who she was, my client sent me some of the things people said about her at a commemorative event. After reading through everything, I knew she was very loved, but even more that she had a quiet way of impacting people and many of them.

I wrote the following note and list of words that came to me as I thought of her to my client to make sure that I had an accurate sense of who she was:

“She strikes me as a person who loved and lived with her whole heart and I found myself feeling so sorry I never met her in person. I know I would have really enjoyed being in her presence and been inspired by how she lived life. Even a month after reading these notes about her, I'm still left with a sort of permission to stop worrying about "things" and dive into giving myself to my world a bit more fully.”

“spirited, warm, abundant, generous, clear-minded, ample, integrity, embracing of life, gave herself to all she did, open-hearted, welcoming, idealistic and working with integrity to manifest these ideals, willing, grounded, focus, chutzpah, valuing beauty and truth, supportive, many lines of connection, in her presence people can be themselves and maybe are even inspired to their best selves”

figuring out the colors little by little

Around the time I was starting to sketch up initial ideas, Paul Allen’s magnificent collection of paintings about nature opened at the Portland Art Museum. This turned out to be one of the best shows I’d seen in years. Landscapes from the 1500s to the present inspired me on every level and helped give me my approach for my client’s piece.

I decided to make an allegorical pastoral landscape. The idea was to make a piece that would be a source of beauty, peace and love for my client who would know the meaning, but also hold its own for a viewer who didn’t know the background. To be honest, I’m confident I achieved the former, but am not so sure I achieved the latter, but time will tell.

My composition was heavily informed by the sense of space and compositions used in the allegorical landscapes from the 1500s-1700s - the way the foreground grabs the viewer’s attention and leads her/him side to side and then back to the far distance. It tells a story and inspires a feeling of being in the present happenings while simultaneously holding a bigger hopeful inspiring picture of life.

Without human characters in my painting, I wasn’t sure how to tell the story but tried with plants and animals that symbolically represented his wife. Some parts of the mosaic are obvious and right out there and some are only discovered with a deeper look.

To help my client feel engaged and take pleasure in the process of this mosaic making from several thousand miles away, I communicated often and sent many process photos every step of the way. I even took the risk of sharing some of the difficulties I encountered. I’ve certainly never done this before but took the risk because I knew that for my client the process of making was just as important as the finished piece. And it did serve to help him feel like he was “in” this with me.

snug in its crate and ready to ship

He was/is my definition of a dream client - always responding with prompt, honest and clear communication, paying immediately, and most of all, he wanted a magnificent piece AND understood that this can take time. This patience, support and respect of my process was a complete pleasure for me. It enabled me to dive in without reservation or stress and to get lost in the process.
I’d never worked with a client in this way before and although the responsibility could feel daunting, it was one of the richest experiences I’ve ever had making a commission.

And voila, here it is installed at his house: