Gorgeous! And wonderful work on the back of her gown - very clever. Love it!

BEAUTIFUL.

Woow!!!! Sua obra é fascinante ,bela e elegante lady,amo o vestido,toda sua obra é incrível. o poema é maravilhoso,eu também planto rosas em meu jardim,eu amo rosas. Preciosa dedicatória a sua amiga.

uperb indeed Carol mighty pleased I got this thanx my friend!!

Outstanding... Gorgeous image and text!

lovely words and presentation

This is lovely work.

Beautiful work,I like the umbrella.

OMG this is really stunning, fantastic for on a wall. One of your best creation

Very beautiful image, superb coloring !! Lovely pose !

Your tale/poem is right out of the oldest and deepest folklore. Someone gives so much devotion to something (or someone) that, suddenly, that someone/something inhabits them, transforms them. A miraculous transformation brought on by nothing more and nothing less than love. (You know the tale of the juggler, from the middle ages? The monk who cannot pray---he doesn't have the words ((there are variants on this))---so instead he juggles. In front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. The other monks ridicule him for being stupid, unfaithful, dull-witted, etc...but he keeps juggling day after day. That's his prayer. He does so with such devotion that, one day, the statue of Mary moves for him. Or she weeps (another variant). Or she smiles. She doesn't 'inhabit' him---as the roses inhabit your woman's gowns---but she's still transformed by his devotion. She responds to him in a way no one could have expected. It's a beautiful and very old theme.) In your tale-poem, the roses don't just 'enter' her, they give her a completely new gown and attire. She suddenly blooms with the roses, almost becomes them...or at least she now carries them with her, and the world around her is transformed by them. Everywhere she looks---in your image---there are roses.

Your image really hit me, when you posted it, because it was a human being---and in a stunning outfit! (This was before I read the poem, so all I knew was, you posted a portrait of a human.) I haven't seen human portraits in your gallery for a while; so it stood out. (Well, ok: That's not fair---everything you do is a human portrait, in that you infuse human spirit in everything you paint. But I mean an actual, physical representation of a human.) But also: It struck me as a fairy tale image right off the bat: This could be an illustration from a 19th C collection of folktales. And you have very folktale-ish elements: The flowers in her hair, the equally red lipstick, the long 19th C gown (maybe 18th C or a little before), the deep green walkway into a mystical forest (it looks as if there's water back there too, w/ reflections), the 'archway' of roses above her, the petals on the ground (painted, btw, with a very Impressionist touch, like Monet's water lilies---your petals seem to float on space, or as if she's walking on water with petals floating on top---gorgeous) (details are so important in your work; a beautiful folklore illustration suddenly turns into a Carol piece, and that's on a whole other level). And a grand opening in the center, which she walks into, as if bringing her discovery to the world. And even her umbrella is all nature: The stem looks like a plant stem, the top (I don't remember the names of umbrella parts---I actually studied them when I studied the history of clothes, believe it or not) the top of the umbrella is a leaf; and, of course, the umbrella itself is all petals. And your female: From your poem, she seemed to have been somewhat poor, in semi-rags; and suddenly she's graced with this rose universe. A 'cinderella' story maybe ('cinderella' after all, comes from the root for "cinder"---someone who rises out of ash to become splendid and radiant, like fire itself). She is walking into the world, away from us, but she looks back as if in gratitude, and maybe even in invitation. Your poem invites us...I felt that, for sure. (To do as she does. One gets the feeling she's doing that in your painting too.)

And, this is a really Carol fact: This theme could be so hackneyed---roses are so common a theme that they can be as hackneyed as sunrises or sunsets on the beach (with puppies and I don't know what). But with your intense technique---it's all over her gown and umbrella, for example---ie, with those intense strokes, and the way you make furrows and light in the same inch, and the folds-after-folds (totally a Carol thing), and sense of emergence and submergence which you do the way most people breathe air: With all that, this becomes another of your intense, opulent, throbbing images of the inner person on a deep journey. And you've rendered the opening in front of her as a painterly dream. Also, greens and reds are opposites on the color wheel (complementary colors); so they create great energy in the way they collide and clash---so your picture, for all its bucolic peace and beauty, is electric. Not clashing, but electric.

A word on your poetry: I see you used a complex interwoven rhyme scheme---very well used. And you use short lines for repetition and emphasis, and you suit the length of each stanza to what it says. A very intuitive piece of poetry---in which you tell what feels like an ancient tale. (Not easy to do that in a complex poem.) A very touching upload, both in words and image; and you're walking with some very ancient visions. Beautiful work, Carol.

Mark - how I adored your comment. It made me blush and bloom. And was so beautiful and so meaningful I'm going to share it with Brigitte. She loves her roses so much they have truly transformed her from a person with a heartbreaking childhood who had 3 roses that were the only thing that gave her hope and light, to a woman who grows a garden of miracles and beauty she shares with the world. She really did inspire this artwork and I used some of her roses and even her garden in this work. She works endless hours tending her roses, wearing old clothes that become covered in dirt and torn by the thorns. When she saw the image, and read the story/poem she was overwhelmed, for she felt like the woman in the rose gown. She said she felt like I had painted her soul. And that she wanted to wear that gown. She has since purchased a tee shirt, and scarf, and tote bag, to wrap herself in the art as much as she can. I will be sending her a fine art print for Christmas. I didn't know if I could actually create the vision I had in my head and heart of Brigitte and her love for her roses. But I believe I have come close because of her response and yours that really touched me deeply. And made all the many hours it took to create this work and the prose so worth it. Thank you, Mark, for seeing so much, and even more than I imagined, and for sharing your vision with me.

very pretty! I love the gown.

This is magnificent - and that falls far short of describing this masterwork!