About the Picture
It started as a Thank You card.

   We had a lot of people to thank for all the support we received during those first tragic weeks after Dirk died, and I wanted to do a little more than just sending simple thank you cards. With all the computer graphics tools available these days, it would be relatively easy to make a custom card with a nice photo of Dirk that people could keep to remember him by. For that matter we could also include an example of Dirk's artwork, since art was such a big part of his life.
   There were so many photos and so much artwork to choose from, it was difficult to decide on just one or two things. For the artwork, we finally chose a painting he made about eight years ago. It was still hanging in his old room even though he hasn't lived here for over three years.

UNTITLED Dirk A. Wolf, 1997 (acrylic paint on hardboard, 20"x30")

     The photo we chose was one of several taken in our pool one early spring day in 2004. It was a joyous time. Megan was a little over a year old, and already loved the water. Althea was there with Alana, who had only just been born six weeks earlier. The atmosphere was charged with life, a feeling the photos couldn't help but convey. The one with Dirk holding up his pride and joy seemed perfect for remembering him by.

Dirk & Megan, Mermaid Cove, 3/23/04

    If I had just settled on that photo and that painting, things would have been fine. But I couldn't leave well enough alone. The clutter in the background of the photo just seemed too distracting to me. So, since I had the means (and the compulsion) I used my computer to remove the background. Of course now I had to come up with a different background to plop them into, which required another potentially time-consuming decision. But then a wonderful thing happened. Dirk's painting was still in the room (as I had only just photographed it), and as my gaze fell upon it this time I was suddenly inspired by the pair of eyes staring back at me from the great beyond. What could be better than plopping Dirk into one of his own paintings-- especially one involving both outer space and supernatural mystery?
    Blending the two things together, with a section of sky created from a computer-modified portion of the painting itself, was relatively quick and easy. But the result was unexpectedly profound. It was one of those "greater than the sum of the parts" moments. The picture was suddenly bursting with symbolism, offering several levels of interpretation, not to mention the convoluted irony that Dirk himself, being maximally capable of perceiving and appreciating the multilevel meanings, would have loved it. (In fact, it almost feels like it's really his masterpiece, merely channeled through me... or would, anyway, if I believed in such things.)

DIRKETERNAL Composition created by Rodney A. Wolf, Dec. 6, 2005

    Since I was now able to do what I wanted with just a single picture, I made it exactly 5" x 7". That way the thank you cards not only conveyed our appreciation in a novel way, they were actually frameable prints.

    Realizing, though, that some people might want a larger version, I also made a few "document size" prints, like this one. It is offered here to all Dirk's friends and family-- to download, print, frame, whatever. May bring happy memories to mind, and fulfill its mystical promise to keep Dirk forever alive in your heart.
                                                                                 
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