Acrylic on plywood 96cm x 104cm White Frame

Said he’d had his share of heartaches And made every kind of dumb mistake And in a moment I was falling for this guy I had found a man who’s man enough to cry

This work was painted after writing my song for my husband and partner of sixteen years, Mark Gable. I was inspired by our first date, which was delightful. He spent the night telling me everything that was wrong with him. His courage, humour and complete authenticity had me falling in love with him by the end of dinner. Prior to that I had chosen men with huge and fragile egos who presented perfectly but were monsters behind their masks. I played the song as I painted and hoped to capture Mark’s vulnerability with the blue tones. But you can’t have vulnerability without strength and that comes through the layers underneath, which are darker, strong and grounding. There’s playfulness and joy in the orange and his sensitivity, his more feminine side comes through is the tinges of purple. And of course, there are tears.