I hope you have a nice day today. No, I did not send you a Valentine by mail. To make up for it, I send you my latest digital painting, a rough design for a brush and real canvas book cover painting that I have been wanting to make since I was about 26 years old.
One day in May I was on a train, contemplating the fact that at 8 pm that evening the trains would stop, in memory of the deaths of World War II. Our national rememberance day is May 4th, and at 8 pm on this day we all stand still for two minutes. Even trains are scheduled to stop at that time.
I was reminded of a story I had read when I was a kid, titled "Why the train stood still." - a story of what had happened in the life of some children, between '40 and '45, told during the train journey of the people in the book. Trains played a huge part in the destruction of millions of people in those days.
On my trip my train did not stop. I was almost at the end of the journey, at the end of the day. When I looked out the window, I saw nothing but grassland. Empty fields of grass, cut by narrow slits of water. No houses, no trees. And in one of these fields there were three cows.
One red cow, one white cow and one blue cow. And I thought "How fitting! This farmer must have a great sense of art." I wished I had a camera with me. But even then, from a rolling train, at that distance, it would not have done it justice. So I promised myself to one day paint this grassland with three cows. So this gesture will never be forgotten.
Embrace the memory of friends far away, and hug the ones that are near. Happy Valentine's Day you all.
