The old mansion overlooks the sea; perhaps it sits high on a cliff so the person on the upper deck is able to look far out to sea.  The wife comes here often each day, waiting for the return of her husband.  When he sailed away, she was a young bride.  Her mind denies the years.  She is now an old woman, but still she comes daily to the Widow’s Watch.

 This is a watercolor painted at a pre-Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair this last December.  There wasn’t much to do between customers, so I started with a blank sheet of white 11” x 17” watercolor paper and let my mind wander through the possibilities of subjects.  The French Lieutenant’s Woman came to mind.  The tune of a song that asks, “Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?  Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?” passed through my head.  I was for some reason reminded of another old house painted by Jacob Getlar Smith in the late 1940s.  In the upper gabled window, a person of unidentifiable description stares out at you, and so was born the Widow’s Watch.

 The old house may be partially remembered from the Fulton Mansion in Rockport, Texas.  At any rate this is the watercolor done with no sketches or planning.  I’ve put it on at fairly high fidelity, so if you right click on it and save it to documents, it should print very well.

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