Reel

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "reel"? I would guess that if you are a fisherman, you imagine pulling in a fish - maybe a whopper! If you are a sailor or have Irish heritage, would you picture a dance, or at least a particular kind of music? (I am listening to some reels as I type.) Maybe those are your connections with this painting, but I painted in response to something that had me emotionally reeling today. 

$950.00 plus shipping and handling

24" x 20"

Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on panel

Click here to view or purchase on my website.

Very early, I decided to go for a walk before the heat of the day. As I entered our woods, (oh, I can barely type this without my heart breaking again) I heard tractors and huge cracking sounds. There was heavy equipment clearing an enormous swath around the drainage tile back there - surely more clearing than their easement calls for or allows! They were taking down 200 year old trees and piling them in heaps, blocking trails. The ground was stripped naked, and there are ruts and holes, and the fence is now a tangled ball mixed in with the rubble. 

I was utterly broken, just like my beautiful woods, so I went where I HAVE TO go when that happens, to my loving Heavenly Father. I read the Old Testament book of Lamentations, and found a lot of verses that voiced broken heartedness, which was just what I needed. (I have to say, comparing my sorrows with the sorrows of the prophet who wrote about the destruction of his nation helped me with perspective, too.) And then I started to paint. I just had to. I try to do some painting each day, but this was different, somehow. I knew exactly what to do next and finished it today though it almost seems a bit surreal to me that the finishing touches went so quickly. 

Psalm 34:17-19

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,

and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he saves those crushed in spirit.

_____

So now (I am finishing this post a couple of days later) I want to try to communicate what I hope the painting is already saying. It is not a sad painting, though my heart is still so sore, and I have not yet been able to venture back into the woods. I have begun to ask my Loving GOD to redeem the situation in some way. My imagination fails when I try to imagine what He could do with this destruction, but I do know that He is creative and good and LOVE. 

Jeremiah 32:17 Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!

Psalm 30:10-12

 “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;

O Lord, be my helper.”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.