Refreshing

Refreshing

In the last little while, I have had a renewed interest in "Scripture songs" - music that is written to encourage memorization of passages from the Bible. My Beloved Husband and I have a list (that we collected about 20 years ago) of 35 or 40 songs that we knew of that were word-for-word Bible verses. We didn't always have the names of the recording artists and so on, but the songs could be sung straight from the Bible. In my Bible, I have marked many of the verses for which I know songs. 


12" x 12"
Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas

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Sometimes I find that one of these songs is playing on my brain's 'record player' while I am in the studio. I often find that I have (consciously or unconsciously) painted the expression of the verse I am hearing in my mind's ear. The problem sometimes comes when I try to use words to describe the connection. 

Psalm 34:8-9 
"Taste and see that the Lord is good.
How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!
You who are His holy ones, fear Yahweh, 
for those who fear Him lack nothing."

When I sent this painting to my "preview team", one of them responded that she loves the colors, but doesn't get the connection with the word taste. I can understand her comment, and it ties in with these thoughts. But, how can I explain that, as I add a certain color or stroke, I get the same sensation or emotion as I do when I eat something mouth-watering? I think the psalmist must have felt this, too. Clearly, he did not mean a literal taste of the Lord's goodness when he wrote this psalm. It is similar to calling a particular guitar tone 'fat' or to feeling satiated when viewing an art exhibit, I think. The arts can touch us in ways for which we don't have concrete words.

I love the way this painting turned out. The color from earlier layers that shows through is tasty! It speaks to me with words that my ears can't hear. The tone is whispered and intriguing.