By the time Dave encountered Whispers of the Revered, we already knew one another through other paintings.

One of the things I enjoy most about collecting is that it rarely ends with a single conversation. A work finds a home, life moves on, and then another image unexpectedly demands attention.

After an exhibition, Dave kept coming back to this piece. Rather than making a decision on the spot, we agreed on something I had never done before. I brought a selection of works to his home and let them exist in the space they might eventually occupy.

There was no rush.

The paintings were allowed to speak for themselves.

In the end, Whispers of the Revered stayed.

I've come to appreciate moments like that. A gallery wall can introduce a work, but a home tells a different story. Seeing a painting where it might spend the next several decades often reveals something neither the artist nor the collector could have known beforehand.

For me, Whispers of the Revered will always be connected to that quiet afternoon and the idea that some works choose their place as much as we choose them.