July 23

Judge and Be Judged

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In the late 1850s, Romanticism was the preferred style of art in Barcelona. Painter Pere Borrell del Caso, however, preferred the Realistic style. His painting, Escaping Criticism, is an example of that style. His forced perspective, from the hand grasping the outer edge of the painted frame to the shadowed rear leg, we are hard-pressed […]

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June 26

Ezekiel’s Vision

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This majestic oil painting by Raphael is surprisingly quite small (16 x 12 inches). The subject matter is the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel’s vision of God. I find it curious that Ezekiel is depicted as this tiny figure in the lower left of the composition. If his name wasn’t in the title, you would likely […]

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June 18

The Power of a Seed

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I suggest you view this painting as large as you can. The detail is amazing! My friend and co-worker, Rollie, made me aware of this painting—and I love it. Thanks Rollie. Frederick Edwin Church (1826-1900) was known as a great landscape painter and was a part of the Hudson River School (an art movement embodied […]

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June 14

Quite the Hubbub

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Isaiah 49:13-16 Shout for joy, you heavens;    rejoice, you earth;    burst into song, you mountains!For the Lord comforts his people    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. We begin our reading from Isaiah with shouting, rejoicing, and revelry—feelings similar to the ones evoked in this painting by Joanna Braithwaite called Hubbub. She is known for her surreal […]

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May 28

A Beautiful Array

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Since we are in the season of Spring, I could not resist sharing this beautiful still life with you. It was painted by Dutch artist Hans Bollongier during a time known as “Tulip Mania.” In the 1630s, tulips were all the rage, especially the striped ones shown here. However, the bottom fell out of the […]

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May 19

Release from Deception

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In summer of 2019, I had the joy of traveling to Italy. During my time there, I met up with my sister who lives in Istanbul and we took a day trip from Rome to Naples. Our main goal was to see a sculpture called The Veiled Christ located in Cappella Sansevero, a deconsecrated church […]

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May 09

Paradox Blessing

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Alphonse Mucha is one of my favorite artists. (I’m beginning to realize I have a lot of favorite artists!) I have a book of his complete works in my office at home and at one point in my life, I had a huge poster of his work, Bières de la Meuse (see below), hanging on […]

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May 05

Remorse and Repentance

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Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter who was very important in the art world. His long career and immense success made him known as the last of the Old Masters art movement and the first of the next movement, the Moderns. It’s hard enough to be apart of one era, much less two. Towards the […]

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May 01

Weed-Wacker for the Soul

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We’ve had recent rain where I live and it has sure greened-up the landscape. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to this Van Gogh painting. It shows a corner of the garden at the asylum in Saint-Rémy where Van Gogh lived for a time. At first glance, all you see are some tree trunks […]

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March 26

Game Changer

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Banksy is an English-based street artist who uses creative, unconventional, and satirical images to make political and social commentary. You never know when or where one of his works is going show up, but when it does, it creates quite a stir and is instantly famous. This particular work of his made headlines. On March […]

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