Advent | 4 - Giclée prints (2×3”) on watercolor paper in gold frames (2.5×3.5”)

These paintings are the expression of an Advent meditation I explored several years ago and enjoy revisiting every year, especially when the world seems desperate— the response of the God of the cosmos to His creation’s groaning for him and for deliverance. How the plea in Isaiah was “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
 that the mountains might quake at your presence—As when fire kindles brushwood
 and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
 and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

And how the response of God was willingly sewing himself into the fabric of us. The patience of a God who played on the earth as a boy, the radical love of God who spoke and demonstrated good news for the poor and release for the captives and the absurd yet brilliant obedience to willingly become the seed that would die so that we might be grafted back into the Tree of Life. How even as we groan and long for the full redemption of all things, we are given the gift of God with us through His Spirit, a down payment of the full healing he promises for those who receive Him.

In this series, the purple, starry galaxies represent the gift that God sent to us— forever love, forever life, God with us, and Mary is the human connection with a special vantage of this God story unfolding within her and around her.

I’m excited to invite you to adopt these into your and your family’s Advent and Christmas decor & reflections 💜🌟

Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2024 celebration was held on Powhatan Hill in Richmond, Virginia, just 7 blocks from where I live. Powhatan Hill is considered to be the historical place where Christopher Newport and John Smith first made contact with Powhatan people and where they eventually interacted with Chief Powhatan, who reigned over the Powhatan confederation, making it the appropriate place to honor the peoples who came before us and are indeed still here.

My family and I attended and got to experience the beauty of the jingle dress dance and spoke with one dancer, Alycia, who is featured on the right in the painting and is a member of the Pamunkey tribe in Virginia, about the meaning of the dance. She shared with us how her dress has 365 cone shaped bells sewn to it and how each bell represented a daily prayer for healing. When the dance is performed, the bells clink together in a sound reminiscent of rain, and it is a worshipful act on behalf of the community for those who may be sick, grieving or in need of healing. It was beautiful to not only experience the dance but get to speak with Alycia who helped educate us so we could truly appreciate it for what it is.

I made this painting to highlight the beauty I see in Virginia Indians and all Native Americans.

Check out PocahontasProject.org to learn more about the significance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and current efforts.

18x48 | oil on panel, framed