Category: Palette Knife Oil Painting

A friend asked me for an oil painting of a single tree, with a thick, sturdy trunk, in a wide-open green space where heaven and earth overlap by a swimming stream where the water endlessly refreshes and the shade is safe. Her request inspired me to incorporate the ideas of strength, freedom, refreshment, and safety into the painting. It invited me to also consider that when we have these things in our lives, we are greatly blessed. The opposite also is true, that when we don’t have them, we are in great need. The process of painting this tree provoked me to reflect on how what she described and what this painting represents is actually what all humans long for.

“The principle of true art is not to portray, but to evoke”

Jerzy Kosinski

Strength… “A single tree with a solid, thick sturdy trunk…”

The trunk is the strongest part of a tree supporting the full weight of all the branches, fruit, and leaves. It has a tough outer covering of bark which protects the tree from harm. I think about some of the strongest people I know. They are not easily blown about by trouble and are able to bear the weight of life. They have an inner resolve that is something other than this world. They are not without fear, but are not overcome by it and are willing to stand in the midst of whatever it brings and continue growing.

For a video showing the progression of this painting, see the bottom of the Sold Artwork page.

Freedom… “in a wide open green space where heaven and earth overlap…”

There is something beautiful about painting a tree with all the space and freedom it needs to grow. Its leaves reach out soaking in the sun and the roots are not crowded; able to move through the earth unhindered. Even though this tree is rooted in one place, it is actually free, because it is doing what it was meant to do and has everything it needs to continue flourishing is here. It’s the same with people really. We need to be able to breathe in our relationships, have space to grow, and feel grounded to enjoy the freedom to do what we were meant to do.

Refreshment… “by a swimming stream where the water endlessly refreshes…”

The tree and all life on earth for that matter is completely dependent on water. The blue stream spreading across the horizon in the painting reminds me that water is life-giving and ensures the survival of the tree. I happen to live in an area of the world where I have never spent a day or even an hour longing for water and not being able to have that need met. It is sobering to consider that is not the case all over the world. There is a ministry I support in Africa called Amazima and this article is a beautiful story of how their students brought refreshment to a woman who lived a 1-hour walk away from her nearest water source. It drives home the gift of water that endlessly refreshes, inspires hope, and sobers me with thanksgiving.

Saftey… “and the shade is safe.”

Sometimes we sense danger in shadows, but this tree creates shade that is safe. The shade here brings relief from the intense exposure to the heat of the sun. This shade is a place to linger and enjoy. We all long for places of safety as well. My heartfelt prayer for the orphans, the widows, the oppressed, and every human is that they would become strong, find freedom, be refreshed and rest in a shade that is safe.

Gray Areas in Art

Gray areas in art and life can be both a challenge and a beautiful balance. As I worked on this practice exercise below, the following musings rambled through my brain and while they did, I grew. I am still growing in these thoughts and invite your comments and company in the process, learning to be at rest with just gray.

I always encourage my new art students to purchase a limited set of oil paint colors including white, but not black. For how to mix paint to get colors, see my mixing oil paint post. Black straight from the tube is heavy and over powering in art work and the desired effect can be achieved by mixing the colors on the Palette Knife Oil Paint Supplies post just as easily, without ruining the piece. Plus, mixing black from “scratch” so to speak, is great practice. The oil colors I recommend starting with are as follows:

French Ultramarine

Cerulean Blue

Alizarin Crimson

Cadmium Red Hue

Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue

Cadmium Yellow Hue

Titanium White

Gray starts with black

Gray in Art, is the result of mixing black and white. To do that, we need to start with a good beautiful black. There are several ways to arrive at black or “almost black,” which I prefer anyway. One way is to mix equal parts red, yellow, and blue. Another way is to mix complementary colors (opposite each other on the color wheel). For example; Purple and yellow are opposite each other, so mixing those will get black. Other options are mixing red and green, or blue and orange. Mixing brown and blue results in a rich black as well. Once this is done, place a blob of Titanium white on the palette and add a tiny toothpick amount of your mixed black then mix thoroughly into the white with a circular motion using your palette knife. Remove part of the light gray and add another small amount of black and mix again, resulting in a bit darker shade.

Gray Areas in Life

As I look at the piece above and think about life, I’m reminded of the verse from 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 . It is the perfect illustration of how gray areas in life can be navigated. There are so many online posts and books about this with tips on how to know if something is sin or not and exhortations to not turn spiritual gray areas into black and white issues. One post I found was called, “Pastors Keep Your Gray Areas To Yourself,” which was particularly interesting.

Let’s back up a moment for some clarity. In the process of creating the gray painting above, I started with white, added black and it became gray. I can take that same gray paint and add all the colors I want but it will never again equal complete black, because there will still be some white in it. I could take the gray paint and add white, and no matter how much I add it will never become pure titanium white again. Gray is the finished result and with all the shades employed, a composition is formed and perceived. It is complete. It is impossible to turn the mixed paint back into black or white, it is supposed to be gray and stay gray.

Resting in the Gray

The same is true in life. I think there are some gray areas in scripture left unclarified by God possibly on purpose, and where we error, is in trying to make those things black or white. When we focus on something gray, and try to make it black or white, or even just a darker gray or almost white, we are either trying to get as close to sin as possible without sinning or burdening someone else with our legalistic convictions to justify our own rightness. Both of these get us into trouble, cause needless conflicts and invite great harm to others and ourselves.

Gray is not the same as neutral or nothingness, it has value and is that way for a reason and we can be at rest with it. In art, gray adds contrast and shadow to create depth and definition. In life, gray is the tension necessary for us to grow in compassion, kindness and understanding. Some things in life are just gray. Why do we feel the need to undo or correct that? Maybe instead of trying to make the gray areas in scripture blacker or whiter, we should exist in the unresolved mystery of the gray. The rest of I Corinthians chapter 10 goes on to encourage us to do everything we do for the glory of God. This is a place of tension, yes, but if we really live that way, we are going to be seeking the good of others and not ourselves. That is the battle to fight friends.

There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.

C.S. Lewis

Can we be more concerned with living for God and serving and loving our brothers and sisters than what shade of gray all our sin is? Let us not try to figure out the mystery to every gray area of life and point those out to one another or hold others to our idea of what shade of gray is best. We are left to live in and navigate the mystery of these things, all the while loving God and others.   We are exhorted that, “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” Let’s not seek our own good by trying to get by with as much sin as possible as long as it is not a very dark sin… and let’s seek the good of others by giving grace and trusting the Holy Spirit to lead and convict in gray areas as needed. Let’s just rest in the mystery of gray.

This narrative about a woman healed and restored is recorded in three out of the four gospels and this one from Mark 5:24-34 inspired this painting. I loved this woman’s faith and the fact that although there were crowds around Jesus, she found a way to get to him just to touch his cloak.

27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

And she was! But there’s more!

When Jesus realized that power had gone out from him He sought her out.

He had something more for her than just physical healing. He called her and she came forth and fell down worshiping Him. He not only healed her, He redeemed her. He called her daughter and blessed her. What a compassionate loving moment.

The swirls of color reaching out in this exchange of new life glow with light, as power flowed from Jesus to the woman. Contrasted with the darkness around them and the watching bystanders, Jesus and the Woman stand out as the two main characters in the scene in a beautiful exchange of giving and receiving Healing and restoration.

For a true story of a healed and restored woman who inspired another painting of Luke’s Gospel,  by Iain Campbell click here . Enjoy.