‘A Window in Time’ Oil on Linen Painting by Janice Lightowler

Making my away along a dark cobbled street in South Dublin on a cold, winter’s day, the shops and streets were busy with shoppers when I paused because I noticed something out of the ordinary.

In the window of a café the condensation was heavy on the glass, layers of dampness streamed down the window. A failed attempt to clear the view had left streaked finger marks as the task was futile. The haze of damp warm air hung heavy in the atmosphere, diffusing the light inside.

I stood, staring across the street as life rushed by in the pouring rain. In the window of a crowded café a conversation had taken place, the interaction between two people seemed to stop time for them, as the tea and coffee hadn’t been touched. The mysterious lady reveals a secret and the moment is caught in time. The timer had long run out.

I caught them processing the news but I don’t know who delivered it. Had it come from the phone on the window bench or the written note clasped under the table?

Was it from the lady in obvious despair or the lady with the ‘Pearl Earing’?

While exhibiting this piece a lady stood so long studying it that I offered a chair which was kindly declined. She proceeded to tell me that the scenario in the painting represented her and her daughter. The daughter was taking her only two grandchildren to live on the west coast of America. She could not tell her daughter that she had cancer.

A picture can paint a thousand words, but sometimes only the viewer can write the ending.