Presence

Presence - 54x54

Nihonga and silver leaf on board

Inspired by a study the client was doing on the presence of God throughout the scripture. After a conversation, she gave me her Bible to look through, and see her notes. I was both honored and actually terrified to have the responsibility of having her treasured Bible!

She had identified 4 forms of God’s presence - the Memra (Holy Spirit), the Shekinah (presence), the Logos (Christ) and the Batkol (voice). Throughout the pages from Old Testament to New Testament, she had underlined them in corresponding colors. I took that as my jumping off point.

In the painting, the overall piece is grounded on a metal leaf that has been patina’d with an ages old technique utilizing a tar-like substance. I’ve used that gold to symbolize Christ. The blue in all of it’s tones and shades is the Holy Spirit, and the orange is the voice and “speaks” as the contrasting neighbor to blue, while the milky white symbolizes the Shekinah, the pillar of cloud as God’s presence that was with the Israelites in the wilderness as told in the book of Exodus.

I was so happy to be able to create this painting for my client that is also a visual interpretation for her years long study. She enjoys having the opportunity to share the story with friends and family when they view the painting in her living room, and I enjoyed thinking and meditating on the various forms of the presence of God while working on the piece. Win/win.