About the Painting: “Holy Ground”

Holy Ground, 60” x 44”, mixed media on canvas, 2023

This new painting is one that I’m considering keeping for my personal collection… but in the meantime, I’m making prints of it available!

Named after the story in Exodus of Moses and the burning bush, Holy Ground is a reminder of the many lessons in this iconic Bible story.

This painting’s color palette feels like a warm day, a desert landscape, and the sign God used to get Moses’s attention one afternoon – a bush that was on fire but not burning up.

The sporadic marks lingering in the fields of color reflect the inner turmoil Moses felt after learning about God’s instructions for him to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Several times, Moses pleads with God that he feels ill-equipped. His attitude is something like, “Why me, God?” “Who am I that Pharaoh is going to listen to me?” Moses is old, and communication isn’t his greatest strength. His response is so human.

But there's also a sense of resolve in the painting’s composition - anchoring fields of brown and red that give the work strength and feelings of wholeness. These feelings remind me of God’s promise in response to a doubtful and worried Moses. 

Moses is assured that he’s not going on this journey to Egypt alone – that God will be with him every step of the way, helping him speak and teaching him what to do. God believes in Moses, and He believes in us.

When I painted this piece, I wasn’t 100% sure of the meaning it would reflect… but after I spent some time with the finished canvas, all I could see was this story embedded in the paint.

Holy Ground will become available as a print in 3 sizes on February 13, 2024!