A very personal piece. It reflects a time and place in my life where things were certainly "too good to be true," as I found out shortly afterward. Camping in Southern Illinois on a magnificent piece of land owned by a friend and teacher, we were surrounded by breathtaking views of forests, rivers, hills, and meadows awe-inspiring visions of nature, to say the least. It was a haven, an escape, a place somehow between decay and rebirth, housing the ominous potential for anything. Central to the piece is my partner at the time, beautiful and maternal. To her left, our lover, a young and adventurous woman, crouching playfully in the colors of the forest. This painting began within a feeling of blissful serenity, at the height of real love and friendship, when we had the freedom to embrace our true desires. Over the eight years of its process, however, this final product exhibits dark shades in the background, foreboding the drastic changes that would inevitably lead to period of darkness