Artist's muse

Karen Warren, W 77, from South of France

I n 1995, I was exhibiting my paintings at an open-air exhibition in Chelsea, London. A young lady kept coming back and forth to look at one of my paintings.

‘I love your painting,’ she sighed, ‘But I can’t afford it.’

I smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry. What can you afford?’

We agreed on a price that was one-third of the painting’s price tag. Call it my good deed for the day!

The lady paid, then took my hand, gently pressing a square of white metal embossed with an angel into my palm.

‘Thank you,’ she said, smiling. ‘This is for you to keep. You’ll know when it’s time to pass it on.’

I put the gift into the glovebox of my car – and forgot all about it.

Badnews

She gave me a little angel as a thank you

Some months later, I was exhibiting in Bayswater Road. Val, the young woman who normally exhibited next to me, had not turned up. She appeared at lunch time, looking terrible. ‘I’ve seen a specialist and I’ve got a very aggressive type of skin cancer,’ she told me.

Val needed immediate treatment and wouldn’t be able to exhibit for some time.

Suddenly I remembered the little angel in my glove box. I ran to the car and got it.

‘Don’t worry Val, everything will be all right,’ I said. ‘Just keep this angel with you at all times.’ I didn’t know why I said it. I didn’t have the right to tell her not to worry! A bit shame-faced, I went to sit in my car, scolding myself for getting carried away.

Miracle

The following week at Bayswater, I was surprised but pleased to see Val drive up in her van, as usual. She stepped out, beaming. ‘I’m not sure how it happened, but your little angel has cured me,’ she grinned. ‘When I went to the hospital to start my treatments, I was told that there was no sign of the cancer. It had gone!’ It was a mysterious little episode – but the angels work in mysterious ways!