5” x 4” x 1 1/16”

Acrylic on Redwood

My Valentine’s Day painting is inspired by the poppy stained-glass window at the God, Country, Notre Dame World War I entrance to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The poppy carries a quiet paradox that makes it a symbol of strength: it appears delicate, yet it survives — and even thrives — in harsh conditions. Across cultures, this contrast has turned the flower into an emblem of endurance.

Poppies grow in disturbed soil — battlefields, roadsides, cracked ground. After World War I, they famously bloomed across the scarred fields of Flanders. The image of fragile red flowers rising from devastation became a metaphor for life insisting on continuing after trauma. The strength of the poppy isn’t loud or aggressive. It is the strength of survival — gentle, persistent, and unbreakable.