Sunday, September 13, 2009

The Beautitudes

My "regular" blog, being a theology/current events blog, has received the integrated stew of my female existence. However, in an attempt to "boxify" some things I've created this virtual portfolio. I'll be uploading bits of my sketchbook and projects-in-process if all goes according to plan. And so I give you The Beatitudes.
This is acrylic on second-hand salvage-yard canvas (thank you, Emily), painted entirely with my fingers, tubes of paint, and a couple toothpicks. It was an eleventh-hour attempt to compile a summer's worth of Bible Study notes on Matthew 5:3-12, and as a friend stood there and watched I talked my way through it and so know exactly how to explain it to you.
Words and concepts have always been associated with colors in my head. I didn't really notice till about seven years ago when I discovered not everyone though that way. Then I started actually paying attention. Mid-August of this year I decided to test the thing by taking a look at the colors of the Beatitudes in my head. This is what I found:
My favorite response so far has been (in the sweetest possible voice) "Oh!" :-) To make sense of it, read the following key.
*"Blesseds" are blue. There's a swath of blue under each "section."
*Starting in the upper left-hand corner and going clockwise, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. "Poor" is that somewhat-regrettable brown. "Spirit" and "Heaven" are that vibrant yellow.
*Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Lots of black and red and deep magenta.
*Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. The blue and white are gentle, but, as the original Greek assured us, there is a strength in humility that is almost counter-intuitive, thus it's not a walk-over-me blue.
*Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Righteousness" and its accouterments have always been red.
*Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. This is the only one I'm not completely happy with. "Mercy" is green, but not exactly this green. It's too dark. There's a light and a spark to mercy, in color and concept, which I could not capture. Mercy is no dead thing. It lives!
*Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Pure in heart" as a phrase is very black and red to me. All the more, since I associate it with a person.
*Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. This is my favorite part. That vibrant, living green, almost what Mercy should have been, and therefore perhaps they are kin. I love the marbling. So cool.
*Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. More black and red and deep purple, but with lots of blue showing through.
*And at last into the middle. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you, falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Here, all the colors meet, for He culminates His list with this one.

What was so cool to me was the way God "verified" some theological concepts through the paint. We learned that each verse had a link going forward to the next one and back to the previous one, and that in general they built to a climax. (Boomer put it this way: "Could the first beatitude mean that if we are poor in spirit and humble, we start a journey into Him? From a humble person, to one who mourns for what he has done; to a meek, gentle person who understands evil; to one who, after seeing that evil, cannot help but hunger and thirst for righteousness; and once they have been filled, see they must give mercy to all, for they have been there; after that they have become pure enough to be blessed to see who God really is; and one of His main attributes is loving peace, but in a fallen world peace has to be brought, not kept; which brings us to the last beatitude, for all peace we have brought, and all the righteousness we bring, we will be persecuted. But that in itself is a blessing.") And we learned that each verse related to every other verse in the series. So my colors go forward and backward, and then across to every other pile. Some ended up with more colors from elsewhere then I expected, and then I had to stop and think why those two verses might be deeply related, and so on.
Then, the white loops. He showed me that's the unifying thread-- His voice speaking it all, tying it all together, and at last exploding all over the last verses where He suddenly brings the list home and applies it to our relationship to Him.
Lastly, if you make the image big you can see the mosaic effect I got by dragging toothpicks through the piles. I did it because I liked it. A lot. But then He showed me what else was there: us. We're all those little tile pieces making up the shared experience of the body of Christ, and each of those little tiles experiences most of these verses/colors one way or another.

Isn't that cool! I was so high by the time I finished it that I couldn't quit planning the next one. We'll see what comes of it. I want to try to do 'portraits" this way. Watch out-- you just may end up seeing what you look like in my head!

3 comments:

Emily said...

Oooo...now I like it even more. And I think I would be interested to see what I look like in your head.

Anonymous said...

it was wonderful to hear your break down of this painting. i was really DYING to hear it when i saw it...and let me tell you...it made the painting even BETTER! colours have feelings to me! like you link colours to words, i link them to feelings. it really makes the best art, eh? (o; i am still so in love with this painting though...it is fabulous. (o:

Unknown said...

awesome! I guess I tend to think in colors to, though I believe I see different colors than you do for the same words...hmm it'd be interesting to see how different people painted the same subjects!