painting with black

Value. Value is one of the basic and essential elements in art.

I paint for fun sometimes. My style is messy, large, fast strokes, lots of color and lots of value. I paint an object real dark and put the lightest, brightest colors right up next to the dark and it gives the painting depth, shape, and form, it makes the objects jump off the page. Such opposite colors make for such strong value.

So if our lives were a canvas and our expereinces were the colors and God was the artist I would say God likes to use value.

I remember the first time this ever dawned on me. I was 16 and I was in Brazil. We had about a week straight of rainy days and the last day was sunny and beautiful, that also happened to be the day we all went to the beach. And I appreciated the sunny day so much more because we had had so much rain, that I was actually thankful for the rain because it made the sun all the more enjoyable, all the more bright. Contrast.

Or the time I was on crutches and sooooo sad that I couldn’t run or walk, but after I healed every step was like an amazing expereince all of it’s own. I savored each step, I savored walking. Contrast.

Or the time I had no friends in middle school and years later realizing I had more friends than I could even count. Hundreds of friends, friends from around the world. Contrast.

Dark intensifies light, pain intensifies joy, separation intensifies reuniting, black intensifies white.

And if I look at my life now, I think maybe God is painting with black. It’s the uncertain, the unknown, the where am I going? Will I get a job? Will I know what to do? The more days go by the more I wonder if God has forgotten about me. But then I remember how he has always remembered me and I trust that even when can't see it, he is painting contrast into my life. At first I resist the dark hues, but I believe that this hard time will soon contrast with glory, “a weight of glory that far out weighs the suffering”. I think I am going thru a hard time that I will actually be thankful for later, so I choose to be thankful for it now. Value, contrast, and colors are being painted in and that will give depth, shape and form to my character and my life.

And what matters in it all is the way the art reflects the talent of the artist.