James Christensen
The Yellow Rose

When I painted The Yellow Rose I had just come back from a trip to Italy. Everywhere we went there seemed to be another centuries-old building adorned with yet another breath-taking fresco. There was such a lost and found quality to discovering these works. Most carried a religious theme, but there was also a sense of high romance in them as well. That is what I tried to capture here, says Christensen.

The woman has a halo, but I'm not quite sure that I meant her to be a saint. She definitely is instilled with divine grace, however. The yellow rose is symbolic of light and warmth, as opposed to a red rose which is more often associated with love and lovers. I also focused on taking a much more painterly approach to this piece. I wanted it to have the built-up and layered textures like those frescos I had seen in Italy. An astute observer will notice that this is the same model that I used for The Beggar Princess and the Magic Rose, but that painting was actually inspired by this one.

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