Proposal

(watercolor & acrylic illustration on paper, 2003)

"I'm afraid I was very much the traditionalist. I went down on one knee and dictated a proposal which my secretary faxed over straight away."
Stephen Fry

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
When Harry Met Sally

"Love is a game that two can play and both win."
Eva Gabor

"I am about to be married, and am of course in all the misery of a man in pursuit of happiness."
Lord Byron

As someone who grew up in the Soviet Union I was not aware as a child that marriage proposals could be such a complicated affair. Soviet men were not required to get on their knees or get engagement rings for their beloved. The ultimate goal of a marriage was to create a healthy family unit as opposed to a romantic union of two people in love.

Of course, I had access to classic literature and thus knew that romantic proposals do exist. However, I pictured them as something very natural and almost effortless. Only after I came to the United States I found out that the institution of marriage was also an industry. Granted the marriage industry caters to romantics and allows them to go all out for the person they love, but it also creates dissatisfaction among many women who feel that their men could've done a better job at proposing. I can only hope that the young lady in the Proposal illustration will be completely satisfied when her boyfriend asks for her hand in marriage.