Category: Specimina

 

Last Sunday I did another live painting session, this time at Oak Hills Church in Folsom,California. Here’s the final product and a little about how I came up with the imagery for this piece.

 

Living the New Life

(Photo transfers, collage, acrylic, wax pastel and dried seedling on cradled wood panel, 30×60″)

 

As an artist called to bring glory to God, I try to be sensitive and listen to the prompting of the Spirit. This is an ongoing process, sometimes I feel more successful at it, sometimes less. It can seem to be a kind of a crazy thing, even to me, but that is when I step out in faith and grow.

 

The inspiration for this piece came from Colossians 3:1-4, as I read through it and meditated on it repeatedly, bits and pieces of images came to me and slowly came together as a whole.

 

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (NLT)

 

One of the first things that came to me was the thought of heaven, and palm trees, which I first used as a symbol of heaven years ago, after reading passages in Ezekiel where he is going through the true temple in heaven. In those passages, Ezekiel describes the different rooms of the temple, each room having palm trees carved into the doorposts.

 

Another image that came to me was of a chair, where Christ sits, but it couldn’t just be a chair by itself. In pulling together images from my files, the wings stood out to me and came together with the chair. This seemed right to me but I don’t have any real explanation for it.

 

Dead birds are a recurring theme in my artworks, often referring to the scripture in Matthew about how God knows when even a sparrow falls, and how much more he watches over each of us. But in this case, we are reminded that we have died to this life and we are being transformed…

 

Finally, as I was trying to come up with another reference to Christ, I was reminded of how he is called the branch from the stump of Jesse, and at the same time I was reminded of the tree of life in heaven, so the prominent tree seemed appropriate on both accounts.

 

 

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I have always been enthralled by the promise of growth inherent in a single seed. One of my favorite elementary school experiences was watching a bean seed sprout into a plant. Seeds are small things with lots of potential; they can grow into huge trees, multiply and begin whole forests, and so they can also become a symbol of faith.

 

“And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.’” Luke 17:6

 

In my work, seeds are bigger than mustard seeds, and sometimes represented by whole pods or pine cones, which hide several seeds, but the possibilities are still there. We never fully comprehend where our faith will lead us, and often we don’t employ our faith as much as we could. Maybe we need to give it a little nourishment and let it grow.

 

 

 

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“The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:7-8

 

A thing of beauty, here today and gone tomorrow, a flower traditionally can carry a very specific message. I haven’t yet begun to employ Victorian era meanings for flowers, but that might come in time… At this point I consider the reference Christ made to flowers and the repeated message to not worry. We often need multiple reassurances before we learn to trust and rest.

 

Flowers are also harbingers of spring, new growth, and another kind of rebirth and transformation. The cycle of the seasons remind us that our life will have cycles of growth and rest as well, good to remember when we are constantly yearning for something more.

 

 

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30

 

 

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Birds’ nests have always fascinated me, especially the ones that are intricately built, and strongly enough constructed to survive being blown from a tree down to the ground and still be intact. But it was another artist’s work that started to make me look at nests in a symbolic manner, after which I certainly couldn’t go back. So nests of course represent home, and a sense of security, but for me also point to heaven, a believer’s final home and ultimate security.

 

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” John 14:1-4

 

 

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Transformation and living a new life are how Christians are called to live, out of gratitude and a desire to be more Christ-like, and by continually giving ourselves over to God’s will. Not an easy task, and one that many seem to misunderstand. How can we be completely transformed? It is a bit of a mystery, and yet we have examples of this kind of radical transformation right in front of us in the natural world.

 

Caterpillars hatch from eggs, spend time eating and growing and then appear dead for a time in a crysallis or cocoon, then emerge as what seems a completely different creature, a butterfly. Many insects go through this type of metamorphosis, yet we humans struggle to change our inner self, giving up things that are wrong and hurtful and doing what is right.

 

So a butterfly is a symbol of transformed lives, even of eventual resurrection, another signpost pointing to hope.

 

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NIV)

 

“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:4 (NLT)

 

 

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Skulls and skeletons are the structure upon which fleshy bodies are built and often all that is left of one that has ceased to carry life. I find them incredibly interesting and not gruesome at all. Death is as much a part of life as birth is and a vital part of the structure of my faith. Death came into the world when Adam and Eve sinned, it is the price we pay for free will, that is, to make the choice to obey God or not.

 

But it never ends with death. When I am spiritually dead, I still have the ability to choose life and so I have hope. Death is the sacrifice made by Christ for me, and so I have hope. It always ends with hope.

 

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:1-7

 

 

 

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Matthew 10:29 “What is the price of two sparrows–one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.”

 

Sparrows and small birds first came to my attention several years ago. I remember the “aha” moment exactly. I had just gotten into my car in a parking lot (I had been in a Michael’s store, but I have no idea why.) It was a rainy, gray day and the little trees in the parking lot were completely naked, bare of leaves. But as I sat in my car, getting my keys in the ignition, a little sparrow sitting in the tiny naked tree in front of me caught my eye.

 

 

It seemed to just be sitting there staring at me, not flying away as I might have expected, and this thought came into my mind, “God is watching that little sparrow there!” I have no idea why that thought came to me, maybe I had read the passage in Matthew recently or had heard someone mention it, but then it came to me. I could put sparrows into my artwork, just a little reminder to myself that no matter how crazy life was feeling, how much I felt that nobody cared, certainly not God, it just wasn’t true and that little bird sitting in that tree was telling me so.

 

Not long after that, I started sketching little birds and adding them to the collages that I was doing. I didn’t tell anyone why at first, it was my little personal note to myself, but then people started noticing and asking, “What’s with the birds?” So I shared how I used them to remind myself about how God was watching over each of us.

 

 

A couple of years later, as I was walking my dogs one day, I noticed a dead baby bird that had fallen from an unseen nest in a tree overhead onto the sidewalk. I couldn’t have missed it if I had tried, like it was put there just for me to discover. Fascinated, I took a good look and a photo with my phone and started walking on. Then I turned around (good thing my dogs are used to this crazy behavior.) Since I was on a walk with my dogs, I had plenty of plastic bags handy and used one to scoop up the dead bird and take it home to photograph in a more controlled setting.

 

 

I didn’t even know what I was going to use those photographs for at first, maybe as smaller elements in my landscape works. It didn’t really matter, it was simply the fallen sparrow mentioned in Matthew and I needed to photograph it. And then I kept finding dead birds, and so did my friends and family, who were kind enough to let me know and even bring them to me.

 

And so Specimina began.

 

 

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