Paintings are more than what you see on the surface. There are countless versions hiding beneath it and many attempts before you get the one that says what you need to say. I began this as an illustration years ago in a style that was more children’s book than the style it ended up.
I had seen a short film of the story, that I believe will probably be on youtube and then read the story. I happened to find it in a publication of short stories on my bookshelf. I had no idea I even had it. And as most inspirations go, I was inspired.
Since this is a children's story almost every page is a detailed illustration in print. You just have to pick one. Mr. Wilde makes it very hard to choose. I finally settled on the great reveal of the book. The giant seemingly asleep in his great chair, exhausted by breaking down the huge wall he had erected around his garden. His heart. And at his feet a small child comforts him with the words, “... today you shall come with me to my garden, ...”
For my model I used my brother-in-law David, he was not an old giant as I depicted him but he was a giant of a man with a big heart. He’s since gone to stay in the child’s garden but I can still look across my studio and visit him. I never did finish this version.
I didn't have winter and hail and wind and ice stopping me but I dropped it into a storage portfolio and let it rest for a while. That was in 2009. Like so many unfinished works it never was far from my mind. Then, cleaning out old work and supplies last year I brought it out.
Studying it I thought I might try changing the style to the cubistic style that I’ve developed. I would try just painting on the surface without sketching it first. This worked to a point. It got me the pose I wanted for the giant. That of a person exhausted, falling asleep almost in the act of laying down.
Withered from building so many walls against intruders his arms are limp. Sleepless night watches assuring that no one touches him has left his heart cold. But no matter how hard or how long he labored to surround himself this frozen brittle wall breaks and love slips in.
The child fills the hole in the giant's heart. A touch of his hand transforms darkened trees to gold and melts away the walls. Yet, even as the giant's garden comes to new life he must leave it. He has been invited to another garden, the child's garden, “which is Paradise.”
Pat Sheehan