I painted him before I met him: the story behind Such Love

Hi,

I want to tell you about the painting I can't part with.

Years ago I was in graduate school in Northern California, living in a small town where I didn't know anyone. I was single, and I was lonely. Every night I'd come home, pour a glass of wine, and paint my heart out. It was the one thing that made that town feel less empty.

I was also wishing, the way you do, that one day I'd meet the one. Cheesy, I know. Stay with me.

On one of those nights I painted two horses, close together under a sliver of moon. Then I put it away with all the others and forgot about it.

Six months before I finished school, I met Matt. I knew right away.

Our first weekend together in Chico, when he came to visit me after we met at a winery with friends in Santa Barbara.

About a year later I had moved home to Santa Barbara and was going through my studio when I found that painting again. I stopped and stared. The horse on the right was him. His sweet, gentle energy, right there on the paper, painted before I ever knew his name.

Who knew that sometimes art becomes real life?

Our first New Year's.

I named it Such Love. I can't imagine ever parting with the original, but it has become the print my collectors choose more than any other, and I think I know why. Most of us have loved someone before it made any sense.

I hope it means as much to you as it does to me.

Right after our third baby was born.

Warmly,
Bettina