Okay, I Tried It

"Deeper In"
9X12"
Colored pencil

I've never really been big on abstract painting. Most of it just doesn't make sense to me. But then I came across an article a few months back that made me think, "Don't knock it 'til you try it..." So I did. I took a picture of a flower and started messing around with the shapes and shadows, and I came up with a sketch that developed into this picture.

I wasn't trying to come up with any concrete forms, but when I took a second look at the sketch, I saw a figure in the bottom right corner. It looked like the figure was escaping into the other shapes. I liked that idea, a person escaping into something bigger and deeper. The idea of finding a hiding place and disappearing from all life's cares really appeals to me right now. There's a lot of things that I could disappear into, but honestly, the only thing that is bringing me any lasting peace at this point in time is going deeper in my relationship with God. All the other things that I've been using to escape have left me restless, dissatisfied, disappointed, and completely miserable. God has something so much better, and one of these days I'm actually going to embrace that reality at a heart level, not just in my head.

All that from an abstract painting...maybe that's what I've missed out on for all these years. So now I'm going to encourage everyone else to attempt two don't-knock-it-'til-you-try-it activities: going deeper in your own relationship with God and abstract painting.