A Promise of Hope

Idea for a painting of hope and promise

Idea of promise beyond the gate

The need to explore behind the gate

Leaves a lot for the imagination

I wonder who lives there and who loves gardening?

Topiary - who is the artist behind those bushes?

Are they lonely or does a family live behind those walls?

Old or young? Organised or chaos?

A fine gate that has probably never seen a touch of paint -maybe just creosote?

Where is this house - which country or part of a country??

Reminds me of a lady called Becky who lived down our road when we were kids

She was always ready for a chat and sometimes a biscuit or two!

Sometimes we would go and help her with gardening or

carry something for her into the house.

We lived down a long country road with very few houses so it was really nice for us kids to have such a friendly face to keep a≠ eye on on us……≠

Sometimes it was scary walking or biking down this road especially after school…..

When I cycled to primary school, my dog Christmas would run alongside until we got to the bus stop, where I would leave my bike behind the hedge next to where the bus stopped and Christmas would wait and guard my bike till I returned -

BUT

sometimes people would take him into the police station because they thought he was lost!

One day my parents took us and our dog to Wimbledon Common - where the Wombles lived - but when we were getting back into the car after a fun time on the common - our dog was nowhere to be found 😢oh dear 😢

So we were shouting “Christmas” all over the common- people must have thought we had lost the plot 🤣 🤣

Eventually we had to leave and travel the 20 minutes by car to get home

AND

what do you think we found???……

One dog called Christmas sat in front of the garage door - well he'd had an adventure of his own!!

How did he manage it!!?

Louise Beare 18-2-2025