I started working as an artist pretty much right out of high school. My ultimate dream was always to illustrate Bible symbolism, with “Have one of your paintings hanging in the Vatican” sitting prominently (and probably unattainably) at the very top of my Life’s Bucket List. In high school, I caught a bit of flack from teachers who thought there was too much religious emphasis in my work, but sometimes your heart is where it is, and the only question is are you going to embrace that passion or ignore it.
I chose to embrace it, even though I don’t get to embrace it as often or as fully as I’d like.
Years ago, I created what I considered to be my masterpiece; an enormous painting heavily laden with Bible symbolism which I chronicled in a multi-part blog series (the final part which I still have not written, good grief, Wendy, seriously) titled “Armageddon“. It was a true labor of love, if ever such a thing existed, and if you haven’t read my blog series about it, please feel free to pop over and enjoy.
Usually religious works are done just for me, with wildlife, nature scenes, and my personal creativity outlet, still-life portraits, building up the bulk of my commission jobs. But every once in a while, the opportunity to create a piece of religious art for someone springs up and I pounce on it.
The commission I just completed was a Lenten Cross. The client didn’t call it that, but after he described, “a cross with purple robe hanging over an arm”, I knew that he was talking about what is commonly referred to as a Lenten Cross. Continue reading →
