Black

Black

For the first day of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 painting challenge, I am painting 'Black'. I fully realize this could seem like I am being facetious or audacious to paint an almost entirely black painting, but that is definitely NOT what my intent! I have been trying for a month to decide on my theme for this challenge, and have not been able to come up with what I wanted to do. 

During the night last night, I decided that my theme for the first 5 days of the challenge is 'the Wordless Book'. From Wikipedia, the Wordless Book "consists of several blocks of pure color that, in sequence, represent a nonverbal catechism about basic Christian teachings for the instruction of children, the illiterate, or people of different cultures. However, the presentation of the book is meant to be a verbal experience, providing the "reader" a visual cue to expound Christian doctrine". My mother used this tool to teach me when I was a child, and I have used it to teach others, including my own kids. 

In the Wordless Book, black represents sin - the condition that separates every person from GOD. The New Testament mentions our state many places, including Romans 3:10 'as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;" ' and Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 

Painting an all black painting was not really where I expected to start this challenge! But I wanted to make it meaningful and interesting, even without being able to use a lot of color. I wanted to show different textures and shapes of black - yet all are black. No matter how shiny or flat, smooth or rough, beautiful or ugly, each is still black. Clearly, I just had to put a little bit of hope in this painting, too... the red leads to the next painting, which I will do tomorrow. 

Here is a photo of the painting under different lighting where the texture is more evident. 

11" x 14" acrylic on watercolor paper

1" white border

Contact me to purchase