"All Things New (Revelation 21:1-7)"
All Things New, Mixed Media Acrylic 2015, 8"x 10" ~SOLD~
This is a painting that had literally been simmering on the back-burner of my mind for over a year. It was an idea that came to me in a flash when I was working on a batch of gelatin prints that are based on the same idea. In making the prints, I had been using dozens of small triangular pieces of paper as stencils. I fell in love with the wonderful array of accidental colors, textures, and patterns that formed when these little triangles were used to resist ink from the printing plate time and time again. I immediately knew then that I would save these little gems and use them someday in a mixed media painting bearing the same imagery. So it was with a great deal of excitement that I began the painting last month and finally opened the zip lock bag full of my cherished little triangle scraps.
However, life got busy, as it often does, and I had to put this project aside for a month or so. When I eagerly returned to the project, I was positively heart-broken to discover my precious little bag of triangles was nowhere to be found. I was so intensely disappointed. I had saved those little pearls for over a year, and now they were gone. For two weeks I prayed, asked my family to pray, and repeatedly tore my studio apart hoping to find them. I did my best to keep things in perspective. A grown man making getting overly upset about a small bag of colorful paper triangles is not a very Godly example. Eventually, I accepted that they were just gone for good. I returned to the studio and prayed one last time that God will help me remember where they were, or give me direction about what to do next. I felt like I should search one last time, and in so doing came across my rather large stack of "junk prints." These were prints that had for one reason or another failed, and yet, seemed useful enough to not throw away. (Classic artist pack-rat syndrome!) It was only when I held those failed images in my hand though that I realized I could use bits and pieces from them to make NEW triangles!
So that's just what I did. I sifted through my artistic trash and found a whole new collection of tiny gems, and honestly, I like these more then the ones I had so eagerly saved last year. And it is now, as I use them to create this painting, that I am overwhelmed by the symbolism God has incorporated into the work with these little pieces of paper. We are all like these little triangles. There are none of us that are special and set apart because of who we are, what we have, or what we look like. None of us are deserving of any special status or prestige over anyone else. In fact, that kind of thinking will only lead to one thing....being lost. Instead, God favors the humble. Those that have been forgotten, spoiled, ruined. He takes our failure and sees opportunity. He takes our trash, and uses it to make something beautiful.
However, life got busy, as it often does, and I had to put this project aside for a month or so. When I eagerly returned to the project, I was positively heart-broken to discover my precious little bag of triangles was nowhere to be found. I was so intensely disappointed. I had saved those little pearls for over a year, and now they were gone. For two weeks I prayed, asked my family to pray, and repeatedly tore my studio apart hoping to find them. I did my best to keep things in perspective. A grown man making getting overly upset about a small bag of colorful paper triangles is not a very Godly example. Eventually, I accepted that they were just gone for good. I returned to the studio and prayed one last time that God will help me remember where they were, or give me direction about what to do next. I felt like I should search one last time, and in so doing came across my rather large stack of "junk prints." These were prints that had for one reason or another failed, and yet, seemed useful enough to not throw away. (Classic artist pack-rat syndrome!) It was only when I held those failed images in my hand though that I realized I could use bits and pieces from them to make NEW triangles!
So that's just what I did. I sifted through my artistic trash and found a whole new collection of tiny gems, and honestly, I like these more then the ones I had so eagerly saved last year. And it is now, as I use them to create this painting, that I am overwhelmed by the symbolism God has incorporated into the work with these little pieces of paper. We are all like these little triangles. There are none of us that are special and set apart because of who we are, what we have, or what we look like. None of us are deserving of any special status or prestige over anyone else. In fact, that kind of thinking will only lead to one thing....being lost. Instead, God favors the humble. Those that have been forgotten, spoiled, ruined. He takes our failure and sees opportunity. He takes our trash, and uses it to make something beautiful.
