Kingdom of Children
This was painted with the three-color process—red, blue, and
yellow (plus white) mixed to create all the shades. It’s a good way to unify
the different colors in your painting, and that was especially important on this
one, since I put it together from a combination of 13 family photos, faces from
magazines, and a bit of my own imagination. The bubbles were by far the easiest
and most fun. Get close, and you’ll see they’re simply loose swirls of color.
In composing this picture, I was inspired by two quotations of Jesus from the
gospel according to Matthew:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid
them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
And
“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and
become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Logos
This was made entirely with color pencils, except for some
paint spatter for stars and highlights on the planets, which, I might add, are
arranged in a completely imaginary formation. I love images that show the
movements of the planets with rings. To me, the precise movements in the
heavens look very much like a dance. The dance of a solar system centers around
a star—ours is called The Sun. Oddly enough, in English, that sounds exactly
like The Son, S-O-N, a name often given to Jesus. In Greek, “Logos” means
“Word”, and is also one of Jesus’ names. The gospel according to John starts
out: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.”
There’s a song I love that was playing in the back of my
mind as I chose art for this show:
All
creation moves in a cosmic dance
For the
Lord her King
And the
rhythm, the reason,
The rhyme
of the dance
It pulses
within everything…
Ravenwood
This is acrylic paint on wood. As is obvious from the art on
display here, I’m fond of bright colors. So, I have no idea why, out of all the
birds out there, ravens would be one of my favorites. I’ve never seen them as
ominous, but instead a combination of amusing and noble. People keep calling
this a “crow”, so let me be clear: there’s a difference between crows and
ravens! Ravens are bigger and have larger beaks. Crows caw, ravens croak. And
when they fly overhead, I can tell them apart because the crows are flapping, but
the ravens are making a majestic swoop, swoop sound with their broad
wings.
All Creation Sings
This piece, made from a combination of pen and ink and
colored pencils, is a variation on the same theme as “Logos”. After I drew it
years ago, I matched it with a tiny poem I wrote called “Life”:
What is this
gift we are given
The most
mysterious of things
As brilliant
as the distant stars
And as
fragile as butterfly wings?
Ageless Dance (Broken Beauty)
I couldn’t quite decide what to call this graphite and color
pencil drawing, so I named it both, because it is. If you look closely
at the background details, you’ll notice little figures, from many lands and
times, engaged in many different forms of dance. That’s the “ageless dance”
part. But it all started with a photo of an ancient Greek statue that caught my
eye. She was weather-worn, chipped, and maimed, but so beautiful, the artistry
of her sculptor shining through. She is us. Broken, but still beautiful.
Disfigured, but still dancing. Damaged, but still the work of a great artist.
