Category: Color

How do you paint forgiveness? It’s easier to show you than to tell you. These two new oil paintings inspired by extended and received mercy and love modeled in the Bible are my attempt to paint forgiveness.

What is forgiveness?

When I began the process of painting forgiveness, the foundation of forgiveness taught in Scripture was key. The Bible reveals that God’s idea of forgiveness is unselfish love. 1 Corinthians 13:5 describes this kind of love with the language, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” If we endeavor to practice this kind of forgiveness with others, it means letting go of our resentment and giving up any claim to be compensated for the hurt or loss we have suffered. As I wondered how to paint this idea, two stories from the Bible stood out as beacons modeling this type of love. The story of the Forgiving Father is also frequently referred to as the story of the Prodigal Son and the account of Jesus forgiving the woman who was accused of adultery.

Forgiveness modeled

In both of these examples, forgiveness was extended when it was not earned or deserved. With the forgiving father, the son repented of how he had wronged his father and returned home in humility and brokenness. With the woman caught in adultery, Jesus forgives her and then tells her, to go and sin no more. The two recipients of the grace and mercy in these stories received in very different ways, but in both examples, a turning from an old pattern of life toward a new one was involved. While engaging in the process of painting these, I found myself wanting to capture both the selfless action and posture of the forgivers, the Father and Jesus, as well as the humble and repentant attitudes of the receivers. These two stories ultimately point us to God and the unconditional love He extended to humanity in forgiving us for our rebellion and rejection of Him. There is a great video from the Bible Project that can explain that forgiveness much better than I can here. As I expressed these two forgiveness models in my art process, my prayer was that I would also embody and embrace this practice in my life as I encounter others, and thus, creating the paintings became a practice of worship.

The Forgiving Father, also frequently called the story of the Prodigal Son

This painting is inspired by the moment when the father in Luke 15:11-32 finally gets to embrace his son who had been lost. The figure of the father is filled with gold and orange light and his bowing posture shows that he is bringing his body down to the son’s level to offer forgiveness, love, and comfort. His arms are a never-ending circle of unconditional love. The figure of the son is mostly red, covered by the blood of Christ, and bowed in repentance and recognition that the grace he is receiving is completely undeserved. Their bodies form the shape of a heart reminding us that we too are caught up in the never-ending unconditional love embrace of God.

The Woman Publically Accused of Adultery.

This is from the account in John 8:1-11 when a woman is publicly accused of adultery and Jesus extends compassion and forgiveness to her.  Between the two figures of Jesus on the left and the woman on the right is the cross reminding us that this same forgiveness and compassion is available to us because he sacrificed his body for us on the cross. The figures are connected through the cross, just as we are connected to God and each other through the cross as the body of Christ.

These two paintings and one more are included in the Body / Image Art Exhibit at The Village Church Denton now through Easter 2024.

I thought this recent commission from a friend was worth sharing. I usually paint nature and landscapes, so when this request came in, I was challenged by it in more ways than one. She wanted a very small painting of Jerusalem, and the reason she wanted it, was so she could hang it in her office and be reminded to pray for the people in Jerusalem and the entire city regularly. Who could say no to that?

Here’s the painting!

Prayer for Jerusalem Painting, Oil on Canvas, 6″ x 12″

And here is a prayer…

I found this prayer from Anne Graham Lotz and found such hope and encouragement in praying it. I had to share it here. Please join me.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23:1-3

David was a shepherd. As a boy, he cared for sheep and kept them safe, fed, sheltered, and together. He led them where he knew fresh grass and water would be and fought off their enemies for them. When they were injured he cared for them. When they were lost, he found them. However, years later when he wrote this psalm, he was the one in need of care, protection, and safety. He was comparing his relationship to God in this Psalm. This time, he was the sheep and he is acknowledging that God is his Shepherd. At a time in his life when there was not anything peaceful, he wrote this. What a beautiful example of a heart that is completely dependent on and trusting in God our Heavenly Father. He was this gentle, safe Shepherd for David and He is that for me too.

A heart in a posture of peace is a choice. It’s a place of safety and flourishing and rest and I’ve found myself in that place. Thinking about this was the inspiration for this painting. I think I’ll need to paint more of these and if I do they will be here on my Art For Sale page. Here’s a one-minute video of the process. Enjoy!

Inspiration

Turtle Lake Sunset was one of my favorite paintings in this series so far. I loved celebrating the beauty and color of nature during this journey. The inspiration for this painting came from this photo. We were on a long evening boat ride and witnessed this stunning sunset. I just took this photo with my iPhone and couldn’t believe how well it turned out.

who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

Psalm 65:7-8

The Painting

The Process

Here’s a quick one-minute video showing the process I followed when painting it.

The Inspiration

The inspiration for this painting came from a photo I came across online of this beautiful field full of flowers. It seemed crisp and clean and sunny and the perfect subject for a painting.

The Palette

For this one, I used my typical palette, Ultramarine, Alizarin, Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, and Cadmium Yellow but I left out the Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna and added in Rose Red for the lovely pinks.

The Painting

This is Patra’s Meadow, 30″ x 24″done in oil with a palette knife on gallery-wrapped canvas. After working on small pieces lately, it was so fun to explore this larger canvas and fill it with color.

The Peace

Last week I had the opportunity to witness a wedding in a beautiful field with mountains in the back ground. The air was perfect. It was like music my lungs could breath and I remember noticing the complete peace I experienced there waiting for the ceremony to begin. There was nothing lacking, nothing needed, no pressure… just peace. I have tried to create space in my life for that to remain the posture of my heart lately and when it happened, I was still surprised. This passage from Matthew puts peace in perfect perspective.

Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When I came home from that trip, I was inspired to finish this painting.

Check out more landscapes here! Enjoy! Let me know what inspires you?

Here is a quick demo using a limited palette of six tubes of paint.

This is to show that while the color mixing demonstrations in the previous three posts (Mixing Greens, Mixing Purples, Mixing Oranges) are all great practice exercises, we don’t really need all those colors to complete one painting. The colors in this demo are Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White, Ultramarine, Raw Sienna, and Alizarin Crimson.

Limited Palette Demo

Here’s the Result

I just did this very quickly on an 8×10″ canvas pad with oil as a quick study. I like the hazy look that happened by adding some pinks into the sky and lots of yellow light in the distance.

Give it a try!

I’d love to hear if you try this or are interested in classes like this in the future. If you are new to oil painting, check out my post on paint supplies here.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Inspiration

Turtle Lake is in Northern Minnesota and summer visits there always include lots of fishing. This photo below is of one of our friend’s favorite fishing spots. Its shady bank is a haven for fish and the water’s surface is littered with lily pads. I didn’t catch fish, but I did catch the perfect inspiration for a lovely lily pad painting.

For the actual painting, I zoomed in to just focus on the lily pads for this one. This is done on an 11″ by 14″ canvas board. The palette included Blue Grey, Ultramarine Blue, Rose Red, Burnt Umber, Titanium White, Veridian, Yellow Green, Hansa Yellow, and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Process

My process starts with mixing the darkest paint first and laying that layer down very thin, As I build color, each layer I add gets thicker. I begin painting with a bristle brush and toward the end of the painting am applying the paint with a palette knife. Enjoy this video of the process below and I hope you catch a little inspiration for yourself as well.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Painting

Here is the end result. Check out my Art for Sale page for more available artwork and contact me if you are interested in buying this one.

There is a place in Minnesota that nourishes my body, mind, and soul called Turtle Lake. Some of the dearest people we know live there and their cabin has been a place of healing for me both times I’ve gone there. The pine tree-filled sky filled the cells of my body with oxygen and the clear crisp lake water soaked into my joints healing inflammation. The green and blue space surrounding me was rest for my weary mind. To get there, you have to drive down this winding dirt road through the forest. It’s like a path to peace.

When the temperatures here in Texas reached over 100 last week, I remembered what it felt like to be there and found some photos of sweet memories from our trips there. Once I looked through them there was nothing else to do, but start painting them. Here’s the first one. Enjoy!

This is a small study and not for sale, but someday I plan on painting a larger one like this. Check out my gallery page for other paintings for sale. The style is similar to my palette knife paintings, but this one is done in loose brush strokes and celebrates the contrasting dark and light colors, of the thick woods with the cleared light-filled road. Inspired by the life of the woods and the joy of reaching the light at the far bend on the way to the lake.