Love's labors may be lost if someone doesn't quickly claim an apparently misplaced Valentine painting.
"It's so realistic, it looks like the thorns could stick you," said Kathleen Barrett, who discovered the painting of twin roses on her condominium doorstep earlier this week near West Grace Street and Allen Avenue in Richmond's Fan District. The words "All You Need Is Love" are written across the face of the piece. The words are the late John Lennon's but the sentiment couldn't be more timely.
Now Barrett, who is chief executive officer of St. Joseph's Villa, is trying to find the owner or intended recipient, much as she devotes her day job to getting help for children at the facility at 8000 Brook Road in Henrico County.
"I just think that this is something very romantic and a beautiful painting is about to go unclaimed," Barrett said.
The four-foot by two-foot work is signed in an indecipherable scrawl. But the name Ellen or Eller Gibson is written across the back of the canvas and there's a note attached to the sheet that covered the painting when it was left a few days ago on the condominium doorstep.
"I need the sheet back," it reads.
"I'm an incurable romantic," Barrett confided this afternoon.
But she promised to turn over the painting to the owner or recipient, hopefully in time for Valentine's Day Sunday.
Contact the Richmond Times-Dispatch at (804) 649-6331 or (804) 649-6671 if you know the owner or rightful recipient.

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