The Library · Omaste Witkowski

This Rose Looks Cast in Gold. It Isn't.

Ember Rose is a single rose, head-on, that glows like embossed gold and copper in a grid of speckled, cracked panels.

You have the sofa you wanted, and the paint is settled. Above it sits a wide, bare stretch of wall that has bothered you for months. You have looked. You have scrolled through hundreds of pictures, and most of them look like everything else: soft bouquets, tidy prints, the one you nearly bought and then saw in someone else's hallway.

Somewhere in that looking, you began to wonder whether you are simply not an art person. You are. You just haven't been stopped yet. Then a rose appears that does not look like a rose picture at all. It looks as if it were cast in glowing gold, with bright ridges on every petal and a dark center pulling your eye in.

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What I was holding when I made it

This rose came from a bouquet given to me by someone special. I dried the flowers and set them in a glass crystal candle holder. Then I backlit the glass and took a photo. What stopped me was the way the angles of the crystal caught the light.

I made it at a hard time. My mother had a terminal diagnosis, and I was struggling with love, life and immortality. Shining light through crystal into dried flowers is how I got the glow, and the squares, bubbles and cracks around the rose belong to that same light.

What I hope you notice, after living with it a while, is that it is real and unreal at the same time. A golden memory that wasn't actually what you thought it was. But whatever is?

I won't tell you what the rose means. You may see heat, or richness, or simply a color you love. Your own response is the only test that counts.

What your eye finds when it stays

• Bright, raised petal ridges that look embossed. They catch the light like polished metal and give the rose real visual weight, nothing like a soft bouquet.
• Molten gold, burnt orange and deep rust red, with dark brown shadow and pale cream highlights. The warm, glowing palette lifts a room that needs heat.
• Petals curling inward toward a dark center. Your eye is drawn in and keeps traveling, so the picture holds attention each time you pass it.
• Soft folds sweeping out to the right and upper right. They give the metal a slow, liquid feel, as if it were still moving.
• A grid of square panels behind the rose, with a lobed shape in the upper right. The tiles give the flower a frame and make a familiar subject feel unexpected.
• Fine bubble-like rings and thin cracks, mostly on the left and lower panels. Walk up close and the speckled, aged surface rewards you. Step back and the rose reads as one bold shape.

The wall it was made for

The rose sits slightly left of center and fills most of a horizontal frame, so this is a wide-wall picture. Think of the space above a sofa, a sideboard, a bed or a fireplace. The large single flower, strong contrast and saturated warm color hold up from across the room.

It suits a living room, dining room, library or entry that needs a focal point and some glow. The mood is warm, rich and a little antique. It is a piece for a room where you want presence, not quiet background.

• This is for you if you want a rose with weight and heat, not a soft bouquet.
• This is for you if your room is settled and needs one bold horizontal statement above a sofa, bed or sideboard.
• This is for you if warm gold, burnt orange and rust sound like the colors you'd enjoy walking past every day.
• This is for you if you like a picture that is rich from across the room and has fine detail up close.

A print of Ember Rose has already been bought at 48 x 32 inches, so it works at a large, wall-filling scale.

Choose your print on Fine Art America

• Pick the size that fits your wall. Measure the space first, then choose.
• Pick the finish: paper, canvas, metal or framed.
• Each print is made to order by Fine Art America, so yours is made when you order.
• It ships from their facility, typically within a few business days.
• A 30-day money-back guarantee covers your purchase.

Choose Your PrintMade to order by Fine Art America · 30-day money-back guarantee

Questions before you choose

I can't tell how big it will look on my wall. How do I get the size right?

Measure the wall and the furniture beneath it, then compare those numbers with the sizes offered on the listing. The picture is horizontal, so it suits wide spaces. One print has been bought at 48 x 32 inches, if you want a large scale in mind.

Will the colors on my screen match the print?

Screens differ, so I can't promise an exact match. The gold, burnt orange and rust are the heart of the piece. Fine Art America offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can see it in your own light before deciding to keep it.

I'm not an art person. How do I know if it's right for me?

You don't need to know anything. Notice whether the glow of the rose stops you. If it does, that is reason enough. There is no wrong answer.

Picture the wall again, the wide one that has been bare for months. Now a gold rose is hanging there, its ridges catching the light in the afternoon and glowing a little in the evening. When a guest asks where you found it, you will have the story: a dried rose, a crystal candle holder, and light passing through.

The wall is waiting, and the listing shows every size and finish. Choose the print that fits your space.

Choose Your PrintMade to order by Fine Art America · 30-day money-back guarantee

Find your own piece with the art adventure · Ask the gallery what fits your wall