30 x 38 Watercolor, 2009; Psalm 50:10-15, 23
My first full-sheet work in ten years, this white-tailed doe deer depicts the wild beasts of the field which are all described as owned by our Father, in Psalm 50:11. He cares for them. His people can cry out for help in the day of trouble and He promises to deliver us. We must then glorify Him. I praise YaHaWah’s great name for faithfully providing all that I needed during the months I lived in the inner city! I am grateful for the use of the photo reference, taken by my good friend Alicia Pearce. A gift Werner Gitt sent me – the strong lyrics of a joyful Mahalia Jackson CD, really helped me complete this big painting! This major full-sheet painting appeared slowly during one of the most distressing, cast down, perplexing and yet deliciously new times of my life - the summer of 2009. I painted in a sweltering NYC apartment with no air-conditioning and it took six weeks to complete. I would be out at the street market two days each week, then would spend 3-4 days working on my deer, with Mahalia Jackson's voice blasting away and me singing along, "When I get to heaven gonna sing and shout///be nobody to kick me out///keep a'your hand on the plow, hold on." I'd take my roller-blades and skate around Central Park a few times a week, for a break. I knew very few people. The city was a new and exciting place for me, a Vermont country bumpkin. I was happy and poor. I was needy and lonely. It was a great time of trusting our Father. We are not merely "insured" or "assured"- we are "ensured" by His great Faithfulness. The dependability of our Father's Word has always encouraged my heart. He never lies. "I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine." ~ Psalm 50:11
