Anchored

If only you could see the details and beauty of this painting! I would love for you to be able to feel with me the richness of the contrasts between the dark mixes of color and the bright passages, between the teal and the iridescence, between the deep mooring and the bright hope. 

The colors in the 'bubbles' are intense and variegated and deep. The textures and marks on the surface of the canvas move between freely playful and sharply angled. The overall structure of the painting is loosely a cruciform composition, and the brightest notes cross the canvas horizontally. 

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36" x 36"
Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas

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Hebrews 6:18-19(CSB) " so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure..."

This section in the New Testament book of Hebrews has been bringing me comfort and hope for the last several days.With the loss of life and homes in the Bahamas, the boat fire that killed many people in California, and several shocking situations in our local area, I find my mind and soul "...like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind... (James 1:6)" 

Yet, when I feel that I may be towed away by the current of sorrow, or lose my stability and direction when I am driven by news reports and 'the interwebs', my soul is firmly anchored and is secure through Jesus Christ. He is my hope and my mainstay. 

Interestingly, when I was working on this painting in my studio, I turned on my ipod to randomly choose which music I would listen to while I painted. The song that came up first (you're not gonna believe this) was an arrangement of the old hymn 'We Have An Anchor'. Of course, I put that song on repeat until I finished working on this one for that day!

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

Refrain:
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;
And the cables, passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy that blast, through strength divine.

It will surely hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers have told that the reef is near;
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.

It will firmly hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill our latest breath;
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the Veil.

When our eyes behold through the gath’ring night
The city of gold, our harbor bright,
We shall anchor fast by the heav’nly shore,
With the storms all past forevermore.
Lyrics by Priscilla J. Owens