This is the fifth painting in my series for The Twelve Days of Christmas, and I could simply have painted five gold rings.  Or five goldfinches, as one theory asserts that 'gold rings' is a corruption of the Scottish 'goldspinks', meaning goldfinches; perhaps so, but I struggle to get from 'spink' to 'ring' without a large glass of Scotch!  Another theory is that it refers to five ring-necked pheasants, but I needed a break from painting birds, even though I like that interpretation.  Lastly, Christianity associates the rings with the first five books of the Old Testament, which doesn't seem like the most inspirational gift from a true love!  I did learn one new word though; 'melisma' is where a vocalist sings a single syllable over multiple notes, in this case 'Go-oold'. Hah! In the end I went with my own interpretation, and I hope you like it.