The Rick Chris 2002 Christmas Painting
I completed this painting on Christmas Eve day, 2002. It was created for and was donated to the 8th Annual Design World Cares Art for AIDS Auction which took place on Saturday March 8, 2003, at the Design Center of the Americas, better known as DCOTA in Dania, Florida.
That painting was titled "Unexpected Guests" and it shows a group of friends getting together for some food, drink and to look at some old photo albums on a Christmas Eve, making the yuletide gay. A quiet evening and one guy is even snoozing on a recliner. Yet it seems that they may not be the only ones at their quiet little party. Could it be, like the words from the song - ...faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more…? For those who may be spending the holidays alone or without loved ones, I offer this image as a comfort, a fantasy or invisible reality. The image is a bit more rough and clumsy than I like my paintings to be but I was not really sure where I was going with it when I doing the painting. I think what I was trying to convey with this image was that the strength of love and friendship transcends all and that those who truly love and cherish you will be with you always.
In addition to showing this painting on this web site, I also sent an image of it as an attachment to a Christmas Eve Rick Chris newsletter. I received so many positive comments about the Christmas Eve newsletter and the painting that I made the Christmas Eve newsletter an annual event. I received more comments about this painting than I have about any other painting I have done. Every single comment was positive with people writing me that they felt the painting brought comfort and the feeling that their loved ones were back with them for the holidays. Some pretty powerful and emotional emails. Once in a great while, it seems, I'm able to do some good and doing this painting may have been one of those times.
For Christmas of 2009, I finally got around to doing another version of the painting. This one is titled "Unexpected Guests 2" and it is an updated version of the image. I created an animated version of the painting which shows the arrival of the unexpected guests. Below is the updated, animated version titled, "Unexpected Guests". Directly below it is the orignal version of the painting.
