She's With Me

She's With Me

I am just so excited to share my newest painting! On October 23 I started a new painting, 48" x 48". It has undergone layer after layer of color and texture, and is FINALLY READY TO BE RELEASED! This must be one of the slowest paintings I have ever worked on.

48" x 48"

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

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In October, I activated my canvas by painting, in bold letters, I STAND IN AWE, Hab. 3:2. Returning to that verse today, I remember some of what was on my mind. Though the phrase "I stand in awe" is part of a worship song about God's beauty, in this passage, it concerns His justice, splendor, and majesty. (You should read Habakkuk 3! It contains beautiful poetry.) 

Verse one of this chapter, though, also is an important part of this painting. Even though it is seldom translated this way, here is the verse as it appears in the Amplified Bible: Hab. 3:1  A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to wild and enthusiastic music. Woah. Doesn't that capture your imagination?

After that first layer (second, if you count the way I prepare the canvas with textured gesso), the next thing I painted was a list of names of musicians who are named in the Old Testament. Did you know that GOD named musicians to be remembered throughout history? I am guessing I painted nearly 50 individual names on the canvas, and I am pretty sure I did not get all of the named musicians that are given. I began to think about why GOD would name so many musicians (artists). And I started to look at the times that music or song or singing is mentioned in the Old Testament. Wow! I was astonished at how often GOD talks about music, and how often music was part of His interaction with His people. Have you ever thought about that? So the next many layers contained musical symbols, the movement I felt listening to or responding to music, and of course, color that felt like an appropriate response to music. 

Along with all of this, I wanted to express the idea of GOD interacting with humanity - interrupting a course of action with His presence- and how it often seems to be connected with music. I chose to represent that with the light colored shape that moves top to bottom of the painting.

Oh, there are so many, many more things that are represented by this work, and so many feelings and thoughts that come as I contemplate and enjoy looking at it. I really love the colors and movement, and the way the early layers are still hinted at in the finished painting. (I kinda hope this one doesn't sell too quickly, since I am loving it so much!) 

Progress shots

A note about the name of this painting: As I have worked on the blog post and finalizing the release of this painting on my website, my mother has been hospitalized with an unexpected crisis, thankfully not COVID related. The first night she was there, I was feeling so stressed by her being alone there, several states away, in the hospital. I was not able to sleep and was feeling that I needed to call or text her frequently during the night. At one point, as I lay awake, God seemed to whisper to me, "She's with me."  I didn't know whether He meant she had passed into heaven, or that He was sitting with her in the hospital, but either way, His reminder brought great peace. When I texted her about that the next morning, she said that she had experienced peace, too. Mom is a gifted musician, and so this painting that focuses on music and God's presence in the night hours seems especially fitting.