If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was. We do not possess anything in this world, least of all other people. We only imagine that we do. Our friends, our lovers, our spouses, even our children are not ours; they belong only to themselves. Possessive and controlling friendships and relationships can be as harmful as neglect.

Max has the capability to love. He loves his birds. They are always caged up where he knows they are safe... won't ever let them out. They are safe, they are safe. No one can kill them and they can't leave him. The aviary is their 'sanctuary'. His pretty birds, oh how he loves them. Doves with their cooing and white wings. Peacocks, the colorful proud birds. The snowy owl. Humming birds with a taste for sweetness. Herons. Love birds that are kept separate because Max is afraid that one will die and crush the other one's heart. Best to be safe and just not love at all.

Eve stays with Max for awhile. She is given a room that has one door and is only accessible from Max's bedroom. This room was Max's nursery as a baby. It was kept hidden so that no one could hurt him. Here she stays, her punishment for saying the wrong thing. She has become a doll, forced to wear pretty dresses that he brings her. The sealed window in her room is her only view outside, and the large patio is about all she sees. Sometimes Max sits outside of this window and gazes at her. She is most unhappy. How fair is it to keep something from the world?

Sometimes she is allowed out. He takes her to the aviary and he shows off his miserable caged birds. The poor things. Never allowed to fly on the wind. Kept locked up because their owner is afraid they'll get hurt. What a way to show love, eh? Let them go, Max. They'll be much happier and so will you. Let them fly free in your garden. Watch them grow, build nests, chirp and sing to you.

*My first 100% digital painting! Even the sketch was done on the tablet I learned how to make brushes and to play around with the scatter thing in the presets... very helpful when doing the dogwood tree. Ugh to make up for the sweetness here my next picture shall be the gorefest from hell.

Don't pick it apart - please don't. Don't don't don't. Let me be happy with it. It's the only picture I am happy with.