As much as I would like to say that this is a happy painting, in reality, it is one of my most melancholic to date. My goal was to create a beautiful painting with an underlying touch of sadness. Why a touch of sadness? Well, I always look at empty playgrounds with a bit of sadness. I feel as if children should be playing in them. That's what I was trying to express in this painting.

I originally completed this painting back in 1988 but I was dissatisfied with the second bird flying off the swing. It simply did not work. Eighteen years later, I decided to replace the flying bird with a red, white, and blue ball that we used to play with when we were kids. This gives the painting a more melancholic mood.