Luckiest man alive.

A thought provoking image that is quite captivating...but please help me out here, a bit of, an explanation of the symbolism? Please.

Hi Phil, this is the most personal of my paintings so far and was a response to the loss of an unborn baby, lost at 10 weeks. I felt that the baby was a boy, hence the blue clothing, a sundial for a face because we never got to use a name, just a time "10 weeks".The flower is a rose, we already had 3 children and they are all wonderful and this one would have been brought up in a very loving enviroment "Englands rose" most cherished, the IV on the front of the block stands for two things, "our 4th child " and "me and v" my wife's name starts with a V. The side of the blocks with I, II and III is a reference of our other 3 children and there age when this happened, 6, 9 and 12 written in Ancient pharonic number hieroglyphs. The 2 Egyptian gods are Hathor- the goddess associated with motherhood and Anubis- god of the dead, apt i thought. The symbol between the gods and the block was meant to be a pool or pond using the symbols for 1 male and 2 female, being sex of our 3 children, the double hill in the background is a reference to life and death and the question mark around the baby is self explanitary really, why, why us. The title of the painting is not obvious and to be honest, without the explanation it makes people take the whole piece the wrong way, about new life, not death. I would not deal with the loss even after it had all happened and i was listening to a song "Luckiest man alive" from the Finn Brothers latest album when the grief broke over me. The strange thing is that earlier this year we did have our 4th baby, a boy and he is loverly, we are so pleased. I hope this explanation is not to long, it tells the story and the reason for the piece and im very pleased that you like it, has your opinion changed now that you know what its all about?

A touching and sensitive memorial to a little life that didn't quite make it. We lost a little boy who would have been our 4th grandson last year at 15 weeks. It broke our hearts that we would never have the chance to know this little boy and also to see our daughter so devastated. These things happen I know, but you do think - why us. I think it is wonderful that you found it in you to do this painting.

Hello Thea, sorry for the late response, ive been very busy. Thanks for your comments on this painting, as you can appreciate, it came from a deep place, somewhere aweful and certainly devastating at the time. It is sad that you lost a grandson and at 15 weeks your daughter must have had a real bad time, i hope all scars are healing well. I was wondering if your daughter has seen this painting? and how a piece would look if she could tackle the same issue? Thanks again for your comments and im pleased it touched you in some way.