Stay Good Inside E'rytime

By -
Stay Good Inside E'rytime
1 Thessalonians 5:16 Stay good inside e'rytime

48" x 60"
Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas
Edges painted black

Several times during the days while I was working on this very large painting, a verse from the New Testament kept showing up. It is  part of a group of short verses that have been made into a song -probably several songs, if the truth be known- that usually look something like this: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Since I have not been reading in 1 Thessalonians, I was surprised that the verse kept popping up. And usually, I find that if something like that happens it is a good thing for me to pay attention. Maybe I need to look around for ways to show joy, huh? 

The huge canvas was textured with a heavy coat of gesso, the edges were painted black, and the surface entirely painted white, but it hung there day after day because it seemed just a bit intimidating to start on such a biggie. It is currently the biggest finished painting I have, though I have done this size a time or two before. One day, before I started on some of the other works in progress I have going, I knew that I wanted to start out with a patch of green-gold at the top. I also was pretty sure that rejoicing was the theme of the finished work. 

The curvilinear composition of this painting seems quite simple, and the color palette is analogous and, again, is deceptively simple. I chose to use all colors that are at least semi-transparent so that they interact with each other making more colors where they meet. The movement curves down to a very low focal point. (When I sent a photo of it to my mother, she said it reminded her of someone diving. I love that!) To be honest, it took some courage to call this "simple" painting done, especially since it is on such a huge canvas. But I have to tell you, I LOVE it! It brings me joy, and I think it really expresses joy, too.

The title, and the opening verse on this blog post come from the Hawaiian Pidgen Bible, because it just seemed like the perfect fit for this one. (By the way, if you are very familiar with the Bible, and would like some fresh, colorful insight into favorite passages, this is a great version to dip into.)

Aloha, and Coram Deo!

Comments

Post a Comment