The series, The Crushing
1- top: Cup of Acceptance ~ The Drink Offering, October 2022
2 - bottom: Testimony ~ He's in the Waiting, May 2020
Two years in the completion. Several years in the thinking. Four years in the processing. Eleven years in the living. This series represents a very personal time in my life depicting my ever-growing relationship with the Lord God - Yahweh - God is three in One who is Father, Son and Spirit.
I've not completed artwork like this, in a very long time. Nor have I ever completed a series. My artwork is typically gifts for family and friends, depicting a specific subject matter as an expression of love for that person.
The Crushing series is my first time stepping into the realm of emotional art with symbolism composing the subject matter. In this case, the series is my journey with-God and because-of-God, that caused me to stop thinking about God one way and, consider Him as He says He is. It depicts a personal processing journey that began in 2013, which helped me process what I experienced and learned from 2011 to 2022. During that time my faith in God was shaken from its perception, to mature it further into more of His reality. It's a shared experience of following God and how I viewed Him which has propelled me into my next relationship phase. (It's a phase because God cannot mature me quickly as I cannot handle Him fully, yet.)
This series The Crushing is a pictorial of several journal entries where I reasoned with God, through the Scripture God used to speak to me along with commentary from family, friends, songs and messages from a variety of pastors. God would reason with me through His Word, mainly so I would stop thinking about Him in an immature way and consider Him as He is. He was growing me, pruning me, stretching me, testing me. And He allowed me to wrestle everything with Him, in very raw ways.
I felt crushed. Sacrificed. Poured out. Buried. And many times, wondering why God allowed me to be in lonely, dark places. I was heavily in Psalm 117 and 118 from 2013 to 2016, afterwards realizing that Jesus sang Psalm 118 while leaving the upper room on His final earthly Passover dinner, walking down and through the Kidron Valley, leading up to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where He would achingly pray to Father God to remove the cup of God's wrath from His immediate future. For some reason, the Lord shared this Psalm with me, speaking to me through it, which now permeates my artwork in this series.
After painting Testimony, I learned (or relearned) the meaning of the word Gethsemane, "where the olives are squeezed (for oil)" or "the crushing". Relearned because I had noted the meaning in my Bible one time earlier yet forgot that meaning. Now Gethsemane means something personal to me so, I won't forget it.
The Symbolism
Olives and grapes > two fruits are grown to be crushed for products used in worshiping the One True God; olives and grapes. Olives to produce the oil used for anointing, blessing, offerings, healing, lighting lamps and is an emblem for sovereignty. Grapes for wine used as offerings, consummating, celebrating and ceremonial symbolism with the primary symbol of the shed blood of Jesus.
Olive tree > a symbol of new beginnings, peace, reconciliation, wisdom, truce, anointing of the Holy Spirit, the two witnesses at the end (Revelation 11:4). In Zachariah 4, God uses olive tree symbols to speak to Zerubbabel and Joshua concerning not trusting in financial or military resources but to trust in the power of God's Holy Spirit. Olive trees are tough, equipped to handle drought, sub-zero temperatures, desert conditions, fire and are extraordinarily resilient, whose roots are so strong, they can regrow even when the tree seems completely dead. Olive trees are present within His eternal temple standing as testimony to who He is and how we view Him.
“But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.”
Psalms 52:8-9 NIV
Grape vine > Jesus is said to be the vine and we His branches. In this painting, the vine is pruned in the Spur Pruning method, which I selected because it was symmetrical for the composition. Yet that method resembled the menorah in the tabernacle and temple, which is lit by olive oil. (I liked how the grape vine related visually to the olive tree.) A menorah has seven cups so this spur pruned vine has seven short arms with seven spurs coming off the two main cross arms forming the head of the vine also called a crown. There is so much symbolism in this representing Jesus and naturally, three clusters of grapes represent God in Trinity. Grape vines produce the best grapes for wine if they struggle while growing in volcanic, rocky soil instead of rich, earthy soils.
Snail > a snail is a pre-Byzantine symbol for someone who died and was planted (buried) into the ground like a seed. According to my friend who studies pre-Byzantine bone boxes, a snail was carved onto the side of the bone box to symbolize a seed because if a seed was carved it would look like a dot thereby not conveying the meaning desired.
The olive and grape seeds > each seed represents a fruit that has died, was planted, sprouts, and has within it everything needed to grow into a fully fruiting tree or vine, now producing more fruit than the one seed (one fruit) it was previously. I once read that the last thing to produce on a fruit tree is the fruit so, this symbolism depicts a lifetime journey and a legacy one can enjoy through God's work within you.
The seed planted > The seed knows not what it will become or if anything is happening. All it sees is lonely darkness and isolation. It doesn't see the gardener working, removing rocks and weeds, tilling the soil, watering, guarding against pests, fungus and invasives. Meanwhile the gardener all along is working to provide the best environment for the seed to sprout, grown, mature and fruit... pruning inclusive. (He is in the waiting.)
Spilled glass of wine > a drink offering where you pour out to God a symbol of yourself surrendering fully to Him and His will.
The mountains > honestly, when I painted Testimony, I simply painted what seemed to be a representation of a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern olive grove. After naming the forthcoming series The Crushing, knowing I would paint a grape vine version, with Testimony hanging on my wall, I realized the scene resembled Gethsemane. That's when the meaning of Gethsemane was rediscovered. The meaning in my painting only came from God which perfectly fit the message. He truly led me to paint what I painted.
"Look girls; olive trees!" > In 2017, Chauncey and I took Lauren, Sarah and Lauren's then boyfriend (now husband) to Napa Valley to introduce Russell to our family's love of wine, our favorite wineries and the friends we made there. My husband booked a complete agriculture based tour with our member wineries since Russell is a 6th generation, Florida farmer. It was one of the best Napa experiences we have had. While there, we noticed the predominance of olive trees near vineyards which we started pointing out for fun. Russell would exclaim, "Look girls; olive trees!" And so I painted an olive tree first. As a result, along with the cherished memory of tulips in our family, olive trees and wine vineyards, have special memories and places in our collective family heart. So much so that Lauren and Russell were married (in 2019) at a vineyard, where the flowers were tulips mixed with olive branches. Russell even planted Lauren an olive tree at his family's farm.
Funny how God works...
Journal Entry
This is the main post that spurred on the need to visually paint Crushing. It lists the other posts leading to this series. "A Word for Me... Redefined".
Artistic Influence
When I decided to paint Testimony, I wanted to push my style beyond my normal style of painting and illustration. Since 2015, I moved from impressionistic illustrations with oil pastels and began painting, or drawing with acrylic paints. My style has always been a post-impressionistic approach where I simply sketch out an idea and create allowing the artwork to evolve as necessary. I love Van Gogh's quote of, "I dream of painting then I paint my dreams," which represents how I approach art. Reflecting on my style, I realized I am more like the artists of the post-impressionistic period called fauvists. Vincent Van Gogh and Raoul Dufy (Due-fay) were fauvists while Claude Monet was an impressionist. I settled on Raoul Dufy because he drew quick scenes with his paint brush using bright colors - I love bright colors - and colors used were for emotion and not reality.
Then in July 2022, Chauncey and I visited France for our first real vacation in four years. He booked tours to Claude Monet's home, Vincent Van Gogh's last residence, and we walked to the Museum of Modern Art Paris to see the Salle Dufy installation where his most recognized painting resides. This painting took 10 months to complete with assistants when Mr. Dufy was 60 years old - La Fée Électricité 1937. (I turned 60 this year.) The painting weighs 10 tons, with 1 ton of paint used and is the largest painting in the history of the world. To see this painting in person was mind blowing and something I will never forget; truly inspiring. Needless to say both Testimony and Cup of Acceptance are in the style of Raoul Dufy; Cup of Acceptance has a hint of Van Gogh and maybe a little Salvador Dali.
Rose & Raoul, Paris July 2022 (photo by Chauncey)
Addendum November 19, 2022
Today while watching the “Extras” within the app for The Chosen, I came across this video about the Garden of Gethsemane and the olive grove. God doesn’t do coincidences; He confirms a message He is teaching!
Use the link to download the Angel app and watch The Chosen in Israel: The Garden from The Chosen
https://thechosen.app.link/ytSbi8Zn5ub