Artist feels paintings inspired by God by Carole Robinson Staff Writer February 2, 2006 Williamson Herald, Williamson County, Tennessee There is a series of special paintings on display at the Williamson County Library. They have been there for more than a month, but they continue to attract interest. The oil paintings of angels are the work of Nashville painter Ariane Montemuro. They are a testimonial of faith and deep spirituality. Mystically, magically they tell the story of loss and love between a parent and a child. Montemuro, who primarily paints angels, was urged by a friend to read the books Lightworker's Way and Angel Therapy. Instead of buying the books, Montemuro ordered them through the interlibrary loan service. When she discovered the books had belonged to Joann Tiesler and learned of her tragic story, she was inspired to paint her, even though Montemuro had never met Joann, nor had she ever seen her photo. Joann Tiesler, the daughter of Fairview resident Janie Wells, was a nurse practitioner working in the mountains of north Georgia. She was brutally murdered in her cabin on Oct. 7, 2001. Something spiritual drew Montemuro to do the painting of the young woman she had never seen for a mother she had never met. "One day driving, I hear a voice in my head say, 'You must do a portrait for my mother of me as an angel,'" wrote Montemuro in a journal she kept for Wells. "So right then and there I made my mind up to do it and to just trust the forces of higher realms that I would be guided to how to get it to you." With the painting completed, fate stepped in. One day Montemuro met a friend of Wells' and the wheels were set in motion for the artist to give the painting to the mother. Two days before the trial of the man who killed Joann was about to begin, Wells met the artist and picked up the painting. "When I saw the painting in Amy's office, I couldn't move, and at first I felt like I was in a different dimension in life," Wells wrote. "I know I was trembling, joyous, anxious and grateful to whatever spirit realms (as Ariane describes it) used a loving woman with an open heart to give me a concrete sense of the presence of God and Joann in my life right before the trial." The angel was unmistakably Joann. The paintings, inspired by the life and death of Joann Tiesler, can be seen at the library or on Montemuro's website, www.arianeart.com.