A child’s heart still beats within me as I sit down to another imaginary journey back in time.
When I started painting the Pirate Ship, it was my intension to capture childhood dreams of an adventure on the high seas. I imagined a double trunk tree fort as my ship standing tall in the face of danger. I played the part of a noble character defending the innocent, warding off evil. Little did I know that the very painting I rendered with children pretending to be pirates and sailors in a duel for freedom, would end up just a few blocks away from the world trade center on 9/11 as it, and our hearts fell to earth.
The painting traveled from my small seaside home in Massachusetts to be photographed in NY for my up coming book To My Son With Love. I watched through tears with the rest of the world as we prayed for loved ones and clung to our children.
The Pirate Ship came home two weeks later. My love and devotion for the ideals that America stands for and the support shown by the Canadians through our country’s pain prompted me to add both the American and Canadian flags to the Pirate Ship painting.
Like so many other Americans, I needed to find some small way to demonstrate solidarity.
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