Derek loved Ruth and Ruth loved Derek, but they had an open relationship and perhaps that's how they stayed married 55 years, until death parted them. Derek had his peccadillos and Ruth had hers. Where Derek could be temperamental, Nicholas was calm and logical, introducing her to poetry and classical music and sharing her love of nature, filling that void in Ruth’s life. What was so special, was she now had someone who listened to her, a confidant. Sadly when he died, some twenty years later, a large part of her went with him. He did however leave her with a line that always made her laugh. “Life is like a Funnel…. It’s fun at the beginning and… ‘Ell at the end.”
View through Hawthorn I
Oil on hardboard
47 x 33 cms
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