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.”