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I had been trying to capture God’s beauty in nature through my paintings, however I have always felt and continue to feel, that God’s artistry is at a level of beauty that even the most talented artist, or even the most skilled photographer with the best available tools, will not be able to replicate it and do it justice. This fact was a source of frustration.
Then one day I entered an art gallery and saw the most captivating art I’d ever seen. The paintings had a quality that was so God driven that I wanted to own them all. A light bulb moment reminded me that I am an artist. Jay Zinn, the artist explained that this art was created by chemical reactions on steel. After returning home, I could not stop thinking about this art. So, I asked my husband if he thought that the artist would teach me, to which he replied: “Why would he do that?” I emailed my request to Jay anyway. Jay politely replied that his schedule would not allow for that. Yet unexpectedly, Jay followed up with additional emails containing suggestions of how to get started.
“The Deep” was my first piece of art created with this new technique that I define as: Capturing beauty through nature rather than capturing it in nature. I was working on my first steel piece but not being happy with the results, when a beautiful blue butterfly kept flitting around the artwork. While the butterfly was gorgeous, I am deathly afraid of butterflies! This harkens back to a childhood experience when one got stuck in my hair and my friends stood by shrieking in horror, but were of no assistance in helping to remove it. Yet, I have come to know that God sends me butterflies.
This particular day, the butterfly would not leave my artwork alone as I worked on it outside. I took this as God’s sign to give up. After putting all of my supplies back into the garage, I wanted to look at the art again to determine if there was a way to salvage the painting. On my way to the painting, I traveled the narrow path between the cars parked outside the garage and the garage doors, over to the place where the art was located, but the butterfly made a beeline right for me, sending me running like crazy for cover. “Apparently, I’m not even allowed to look at it”, I thought.
The next day when I returned, the reactions had taken place overnight, and the results were beautiful! No further work needed to be done. I continue to paint in this medium where I am blessed that God allows me to create with Him through the processes in nature that He has designed.
I am sharing the stories of how God is leading me on this journey. I know that these stories are meant to encourage other artists and people wanting to make sense of whatever their calling may be. So, I would be honored if you would share these stories with people you think may be encouraged by them. Thanks!
Original and prints of my God inspired artwork can be purchased here:
The Deep: Original Reactive Painting on Steel, Psalm 24.
