“When I painted The Yellow Rose I had just come back from a trip to Italy. Everywhere we went there seemed to be another centuries-old building adorned with yet another breath-taking fresco. There was such a lost and found quality to discovering these works. Most carried a religious theme, but there was also a sense of high romance in them as well. That is what I tried to capture here,” says Christensen. “The woman has a halo, but I’m not quite sure that I meant her to be a saint. She definitely is instilled with divine grace, however. The y. . .