GOD BLESS THE ARTIST
I had a wonderful epiphany this morning about my ex-mother-in-law who was a gifted artist and a fine lady; she was an old school, old southern mother and wife, and like the rest of us, she came up a little short of the glory of the Lord.
My dear mother-in-law had many talents, but my favorite was her excellent talent for painting. She called herself a copyist because she studied and reproduced the paintings of the old masters. She used the same type of paints and canvas they used if she could get them, even the same lighting if she could find out where and how they had worked, inside, outside and time of day. The subjects she painted came from many great big books that held large photographs of the old master’s works. She produced many beautiful paintings that, for me, at first, were hard to tell from the masters’
Anytime I visited my in-laws I spent a lot of my time going through and studying her paintings and books. I never had any desire to paint myself but the whole scenario of the masters and her almost obsession with copying them fascinated me. Now, over thirty years later I have several books of the old master’s myself; my favorite is Rembrandt, although, I love several of them. Up until this morning, I couldn’t have told you exactly what fascinates me about painters but then suddenly it came to me……….
All the artists of the world: painters, writers, musicians, photographers, sculptors, or any artist that I or you could name sees, in whole or in part, the miracle of God’s creation and is driven to capture it in the way they understand it in their medium, to offer to you and me. Now, I see the depth of the artist’s eye is infinite and you can go as deep as you wish or as deep as you can. God bless every artist that’s ever lived, no matter the level of their talent, for sharing their vision of the miracle with you and me.
Jack