- 16"w x 20"h acrylic painting on canvas, ready to hang
IN HIM WAS LIFE
A Christ figure cloaked in blue emerges from a rotating sun. The Earth swings like a pendulum from a DNA thread hanging from the sky. The painting's title comes from the prologue to the gospel of John, specifically chapter 1, verse 4: "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."
I painted this painting in the spring of 2012 while at a cabin in Kentucky, where (the moment I finished writing down the words God planted in my heart and I had carried for 12 years) a hawk's feather fell from the sky. Hawks are significant to me for many reasons, and this was no accident.
Within three days, I had recorded the whole Cultivating Essence book series, "a message in a bottle for the world" given to me to share (what is now the Lifeseeds Core Curriculum available in the book Seeds for Life and in my online journeys). I then painted for the first time in years. I first shared the painting, originally titled "Presence," sometime shortly after, and it has been sitting on my desk in my art room / office since that day.
Originally I thought I was going to "fix" the hand(s), but that never seemed right. So it has been waiting for me all this time. For some reason, I put it in my car early one morning in 2018. Soon after arriving at my destination, I started slightly altering it, but not in the way I thought I would—to "fix" it or make it better.
Instead, it felt like a blessing, from the painting to me and from me to the painting, sort of a new iteration or a deeper engagement. This is what art is for me: a dance with my life and the life that is larger than me and you yet runs through each one of us. Time passes and still he is the light of the world.
What is your essential story of life?
What is alive in you?
ABOUT THE MAGDA SERIES. These are the stories that have lived in my heart and soul for the whole of my life. They are glimpses of one whom many remember and honor—the one known as Magdalen or Mary Magdalene. I call her Magda. Her story is alive in me and always leads me back to life and life to the full.
There are four series in the collection of Magda paintings:
Series 1: THE LIFE BEFORE
Series 2: THE STORY THEY LIVED
Series 3: ACROSS THE SEAS OF TIME
Series 4: THEIR FOREVER STORY