Tag Archives: Being Human

September 24

The Holy Marys

I was immediately drawn to this captivating depiction of the Marys, (Mary mother of James, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Cleophas) peering with wonder into the tomb that once held their Master. Not only are the women beautifully portrayed but the way the artist has arranged the painting makes the viewer feel as if he […]

May 08

The Good Shepherd

This is such a tender painting of Christ holding a lamb. It is based on the parable in Luke 15 where Jesus says, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds […]

March 06

The Battle is Real

Way back when, around 600 AD, a monk named John Climacus wrote a treatise called The Ladder of Divine Ascent. It is considered an important work for the Russian Orthodox Church and St. John wrote it as a way to represent the monastic path in simple, understandable language. It became an essential book for monks […]

January 19

The Ragpicker

This painting is considered an icon of 19th century collections. It was painted by Édouard Manet around 1870 and is titled The Ragpicker. One who gazes upon this canvas may be awestruck by its imposing size of more than 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. Parisian viewers would have been familiar with the ragpickers […]

June 05

Forgiveness

I love the emotion this sculpture evokes. The title is Forgiveness which is an appropriate name for the scene playing out before us. We know this piece of art was made from marble, a hard substance to be sure, but after being in the hands of the artist, Pieter Braecke, the marble looks weightless, pliable, […]

May 21

The First Mourning

Once again this week we are dealing with mass murders in our country. It is heartbreaking. As the face of each victim is shown on the news, I can’t imagine what the families are going through. This painting aptly shows the grief of the most heart-wrenching loss—that of a child. This piece is titled, The […]

August 16

Blessed

I’m not sure why I was drawn to this painting by Chaim Soutine called Young English Girl, but I was. My husband and I were at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris the summer of 2017 and I was immediately taken by it. Remember when we used to be able to travel freely, without worry? […]

January 22

Days of Summer

About this time or year, I start to long for summer. Even though this winter has not been too bad weather-wise, January tends to be a gray month. To give us all a little taste of warmer weather, I am sharing this painting titled, Summer Day at Skagen South Beach. From the late 1870s until […]

August 16

“I Found It”

Today I thought we would examine Rembrandt’s “The Parable of the Hidden Treasure” since the idea of what we treasure has been our text in church for the past couple of weeks. Rembrandt is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and even if you don’t know art, you’ve […]

March 23

Being Shattered

A few years ago I heard a song, brilliantly played by a local violinist, called “Shatter Me.” (You can watch the video by the original artist Lindsey Stirling  here.) The raw emotion of the song captured me, haunted me. I think what captured me was the idea of being “shattered.” At first glance, that doesn’t […]