I’ve been looking forward to sharing the backstory to the painting for this month. This painting was the first commission I received last year. My client was a minister who wanted to give personalized thank you gifts to the ministry’s major donors. The whole project would consist of four paintings to be completed during 2020. This first painting was for a woman who was the owner of a company in Asia.
When I started working on this commission, we were just hearing rumours about COVID-19 in North America, but across the ocean, cities were already being shut down. This was a scary and uncertain time for everyone in Asia, but for this businesswoman, the circumstances were extra challenging because she had hundreds of employees under her care.
My client requested something with a shepherd to reflect Psalm 23, which begins with, “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” As I considered the verse and the situation the recipient was facing, I knew I wanted to incorporate a sunrise sky into the image. I gave the client a few options and we ended up choosing this one from AdobeStock with a brighter blue sky and sweeping clouds. I liked the sense of hopefulness it conveyed.
When it came time to paint the shepherd and the sheep, I realized that it needed to be shepherdess. I remembered watching a video in the past that explained Psalm 23 within its historical and geographical context and it had mentioned that shepherds were often young women. The figure is quite small on the painting so you can’t really tell, but this distinction was important to me because not only was the recipient one of the sheep being watched over by Jesus, but she was a shepherdess caring for her flock. And God, the Creator, was watching over them all the while.
My prayers for the recipient were that she would have the strength and wisdom to navigate and lead her people through this tough season. I prayed, too, that she would continue to have hope for each day, and that foundational to it all, she would know herself as deeply loved and cared for by God.
Questions for reflection, if you want to go deeper: What emotions does this painting evoke for you? Where do you see yourself in this image (eg, the sheep, the shepherdess, the mountains, the sky)? What burden(s) do you feel God is inviting you to let go of so that you can rest?
If you enjoyed this post and want to read about the stories behind all the rest of the paintings in your calendar, remember to sign up so future posts get delivered to your email! I am aiming to post them the second Friday of each month. (You might need to check your promotions or junk folders if you don’t see it.) I also have some exciting art news in the works so stay tuned!
As always, I love to hear from you! If something in this story resonated with you, if you’re interested in commissioning a painting, or if you have other thoughts, feel free to email, or connect with me on Facebook or Instagram. Thanks for being part of my journey and for letting me be a part of yours!