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ALMOST A PARADISE
Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches, 1993
(Private collection, Winter Park, Florida)
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Almost a Paradise is a "Florida" painting, that is, a painting related to Florida, the environment, nature, and the life of its owners. A careful observer will find among many strange, imaginary animals also many species common to Florida and the tropics: a manatee, an eagret, a turtle, an alligator, a bird of paradise, a toucan, and a dolphin. The basic idea for the painting was to combine in one composition a life-altering experience of one owner during his rafting trip with his wife's environmental concerns and their lives as parents of two boys. That is the reason two boys are riding the winged beasts, while their mother is inspecting the surroundings with a telescope. A careful viewer will also notice the first letters of the names of the parents and children formed by flat stones in the riverbed. These letters are repeated on the flags of the central castle, which overlooks an idyllic village. The yellow-orange background combined with the brown bark of the trees, brown walls of the structures, and the green shades of the vegetation, create the hot and humid atmosphere, so fitting for Florida.
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