Mrs. Jackalope
If, as I believe, the goal of a portrait is to reveal the subject's character and inner landscape, I have to count this as the most successful portrait I have ever made. The photo was taken just a few days ago, and shows Mrs. Jackalope as she enters the final stage of ovarian cancer. She is completely at peace; her serenity, dignity, grace, awareness, wisdom and humour are clear. Her eyes hold no fear.
We are standing together, hand in hand on the bank of the river Styx. In the distance I can see the ferryman's light approaching. The scent of love fills the air.
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We have been together for only seven years, after being lost to each other for the previous thirty. These seven years have slaked a lifetime's thirst for love, and the inner work we have both done has prepared us well for this.
She has been an artist since the age of five. In the last seven years she worked digitally, using fractal software as the basis for her remarkable visionary art. In our time together she created for 12 hours or more every day, while I provided the necessities of life. She generated a catalogue of over 3,000 finished works. In May she put aside her mouse and Wacom tablet without a whisper of protest, and said her work was complete. She has begun the process of saying goodbye to her friends, both real and virtual.
Thank you for the suggestion of opening the window, it feels right. She has already chosen her transition music, along with a few poems by Hafiz that she would like me to read to her when it's time.
I never expected it to feel like this. 
May her journey be peaceful.
May she have safe passage and may you endure the coming loss with grace and dignity.
Thank you for sharing this stunning portrait with us.
both of you. Light and peace. For the beautiful Mrs. Jackalope, and the wonderful man she married.
