painting a story

Many of you have asked me to share the meaning behind my Legacy painting. To be honest, I´ve been a bit hesitant to do so beyond sharing that it springs from Isaiah 58:10-12 and my experience over the past few years working with North African women in Spain.

The reason for this is because I want you, the viewer, to spend time observing the painting to discover truth on your own. Artists aspire to create good art—art that communicates truth and beauty, art that is aesthetically pleasing, even sublime. An artist communicates through her artwork, so words are not necessary.

Of course, there are several paintings that I would like to know the artist´s story behind it. There is something about knowing the whole story—the thought process, ideas, experiences and emotions that the artist was communicating to express herself.

For me, art helps me to process my own experiences and emotions. I sense God speak to me through my painting, and his truth floods my mind and refreshes my soul. I often start with a well thought-out theme, but it continues to unfold new truths and ideas as I paint, surprising me. I am excited when my finished piece turns out even more wonderful and complex than I had first imagined. You see, the process of painting teaches and changes me. I come away from it understanding God, others, and myself better than I had before. My painting, Legacy, is by far the most detailed piece that shares my heart, my passion, the most intimate me in correlation to who my God is and the work he has given me to do.

You may worry that you might not see or understand exactly what the artist is communicating. That´s okay. All art, if it is good, will communicate universal truth. This truth may not always give you happy, feel-good feelings. Oftentimes art stirs up emotions and truth that is painful and must be wrestled with. Good art may make you just downright uncomfortable. But that can be a good place to be. As long as you allow yourself to study the colors, textures, lines, and subject matter and then ponder the emotions and thoughts that stir up within you and leave with a universal truth that it has taught you, you will be appreciating art the way it was intended.

So saying that, I hope you will take the time to do so with my painting now before reading my personal explanation.

¨If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I´ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. You´ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. 

You´ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You´ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.¨

As I mentioned, this painting stems from a passage of Scripture found in Isaiah 58:10-12 which I stumbled across in the summer of 2009. I was nearing the end of my first year living overseas in Spain, working with North African immigrants. It had been a very long and difficult year, I was extremely lonely and homesick, and I was uncertain on whether I was going to continue on there or return to the States to stay. When I read the passage that summer, the words just jumped off the page. It seemed they had been written just for me, right then. This passage has remained a bedrock for me, as I did decide to continue on in Spain. The years have been long and hard, just as lonely, but also very exciting because I see God at work and I know I am where he wants me to be.

I first had the idea to create a henna design depicting the Isaiah passage. I love drawing henna designs on the hands of my Moroccan friends, and it is an important part of their culture. So in the summer of 2012, I began to sketch some ideas. With my progressing ideas, I quickly realized that this was not going to be a simple henna design—it was going to become a painting. The gold leaf design you see is what blossomed out of my first sketches. The underpainting and colors were dictated in relation to that.

You may notice that the bright colors are reminiscent of southern Spain and North Africa. The henna designs, of course, tie into this theme, and the Moorish ruins are actually the Alcazaba in Málaga, the city where I live.

The story starts with the painting of the hand. For me, this hand represents the hand of Christ, and you can see a bit of his white sleeve covering his forearm. He is reaching down to my foot—perhaps massaging, or the more well-known washing found in John 13:3-17, ¨…he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples´ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him,¨ but in either case, bringing relief for my tired and weary feet.

The path leading out from the ruins represents the road I have been walking—the life and work God has set out for me—I will always show you where to go. I am also reminded of Psalm 119, which holds 176 verses sharing about those ¨who walk according to the law of the Lord.¨

As this road passes under my foot and rises up the right-hand side it transforms into the silhouette of a woman. This signifies health and vigor,  firm muscles, strong bones. Personally, this is a huge encouragement to me as I have struggled with arthritic joint pain all my life and am currently dealing with some other health issues. The silhouette is a dark shadow, representing the emptiest of places—for me, that would be loneliness.

However, the path and silhouette are also blue, representing water—the well-watered garden, and the gurgling spring. And this path naturally leads the viewer´s eye to the painted lotus flower, representing the full life God promises in spite of the hardships. The passage shares: your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. Such a beautiful, encouraging promise, especially in the midst of hardship!

Of course, we cannot overlook that this promise is hinged on a condition: IF you are generous with the hungry, and give yourselves. So we move back into the hand again, this time through the gold leaf design. These symbols and designs were common in ancient art and are prominent in henna art today, communicating specific meanings.

If you look closely, you will first see a peacock. Looking more closely, you´ll notice that the peacock´s body is also the white sleeve underneath. My mind flooded with Bible passages as symbolic meaning flowed out from my brush. Peacocks symbolize love, passion, immortality, and royalty. Paintings of birds in general represent messengers between heaven and earth. As the peacock intricately embroidered Jesus´ garment, I pondered the significance of Jesus as High Priest. One purpose of the high priest is to serve as a mediator between God and people. As Hebrews 7:24-25 states, ¨…but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.¨

Observe again and you may see that the body of the peacock is also the palm of a hand, his head the thumb, and his long tail feathers represent fingers. It´s another hand on top of the hand of Christ—my hand. The peacock adorning my hand hints at who I am in Christ and my new calling. 1 Peter 2:9 reveals that ¨…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.¨ This ties right back into the Isaiah 58 passage and fleshes out further in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, ¨Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men´s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ´s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ´s behalf: Be reconciled to God.¨

As an ambassador and messenger of God, my life needs to reflect the life of Christ, thus my palm imitating the hand of Christ. As Philippians 2:5-8 so beautifully expresses, ¨Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!¨

In the painting we observe the beauty of the peacock´s feathers. Feathers remind us of truth, order, and justice. You may notice that the ends of the peacock´s tail feathers turn into raindrops which represent the love and affection of a woman. As a woman, I am reminded that God has created me uniquely to share his love with those around me. One of my favorite verses is Micah 6:8 which states, ¨He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.¨ The tail feathers and raindrops may also bring to mind the hair and tears of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus´ feet with perfume (Luke 7:36-50), reminding us that ¨whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me¨ (Matthew 25:40).

So if I truly am going to live out Christ´s example, then I will reach out to those hurting around me, spreading God´s love and bringing relief to the tired and weary—you´ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew…you´ll be known as those who can fix anything…make the community livable again. In art, hands and feet also express symbolic meaning. The palm expresses an opening and offering of oneself, and the foot is considered a point of divine contact, a holy junction. For me, it´s reaching out to women who are oppressed and on the fringe of society, represented by the Alcazaba ruins and the beautiful henna designs, especially the designs in the foot.

Near the toes you will notice unfertile fields—hard soil. This represents the foundations of past lives, the old ruins mentioned in Isaiah 58. But then you will see seeds beginning to sprout as the raindrops come in contact with the soil. And you will even see some squiggling lines representing flowing water—growth and renewal. This reminds me of Ezekiel 36:25-28, ¨I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.¨

This foot is also walking along the path. When God fills us with his Spirit, we begin to walk in his ways. Jesus shares, ¨I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me¨ (John 14:6).

Coming up from the fertile garden you notice buds—representing new growth, flowers—signifying joy and happiness, and vines and leaves—symbolizing longevity, devotion, perseverance, prosperity, entwined lives and vitality. These symbols mirror the Isaiah 58 passage again, I will give you a full life in the emptiest of places. God never promised us an easy life by following him. Walking in his ways may lead us through hardships and we will need to persevere through them. ¨…he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name´s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me¨ (Psalm 23:2-4). It is possible to have joy in the midst of whatever life brings us. ¨I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world¨(John 16:33).

These buds and vines lead us up into the lotus flower again. The lotus is very popular in henna art and represents grace, beauty, creativity, femininity, sensuality, and purity. It also declares a rising from the muck into something lovely—regeneration. I love this symbolism! And I love the passage that it brings to mind, where Isaiah prophesises how the Lord´s coming will ¨bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair¨ (Isaiah 61:3).* Coming out from the lotus flower are more vines and buds, drawing the viewer´s eyes back to the hand, to repeat the cycle once again.

The central point of this painting is the bright circle in the middle. A circle symbolizes something whole, perfect and infinite. In henna art, a design like this is called a mendala and represents the wholeness of life. It can also remind us of the sun, which portrays knowledge, immortality, deep and lasting love, renewal and resurrection. I placed this in my painting to convey the presence of God in our lives, walking by our side, leading us—I will always show you where to go. That is why I named the piece Legacy. I hope to be known as someone who followed Christ´s example and obeyed God´s guiding hand.

*This verse was in my mind as I painted, but I didn´t read the passage until after I finished the painting. When I read Isaiah 61, I was amazing at how well it tied into the entire painting. For those of you who wish to read it in light of my painting:

¨The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the 

Lord´s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.

Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.¨