The story before the artwork: When I was doing a photo internship in Normandy, France with a family friend, we went on a bicycle ride to a city many miles away. While cruising down country roads surrounded by lush fields and forests, I realized that one of my tires had gone completely flat. My friend still had to go to the city so he continued on. We parted on a country lane with a statue of Mother Mary. He told me, “Je te laisse sous la protection de la Vierge,” which means, “I leave you under the protection of the Virgin” and rode off. I took this photo to commemorate the occasion and created a watercolor painting based on it many years later.