The Secret of The Rose Window

When I published "Rose Windows" back in 1979 there was a 'secret' woven into the book. Only one person in the past 40 or so years has told me that they have spotted it! The book has three sections of colour plates and the captions to these plates 'hides' the secret: part of the caption is in bold type and as you turn the pages the bold type creates new sentences. The book is long since out of print so what follows are the bold type sections strung together with the images they refer to - with one or two minor changes "The ability to create beauty is God's greatest gift to man. And the appreciation of beauty whether man made or natural is not only a joy but an active call to something much greater than oneself. At rare intervals in our lives we may experience moments of magic, when a person, a place, a view, an object or a situation seems to transfix us, and we suddenly see the world in a quite different light. Such moments are often accompanied by an equally sudden 'inner expansion' and the realization that there is much more of life to be experienced, much that is unfulfilled. However unexpected the moments may be, they have a feeling of the Absolute about them. They are rare and elusive but leave us with a sense of awe and wonder which we feel is our birthright." From "Rose Windows", Painton Cowen. Thames & Hudson, 1979 Light into Darkness The Making The Meaning Return The Glaziers' Dream, 1978 Ink drawing by Quentin Neill