White Flower

Easter Sunday and the impossible has come true. Jesus has risen from the dead. I chose this watecolor of a white flower that I painted using primarily the shadows. Little color was added so that the effect is somewhat ethereal. To me it suggested the purity and elusiveness of that early morning when the women first saw the empty tomb.

"Call to the Table"

This painting, "Call to the Table" suggests the inclusion of a variety of people at the Last Supper. The reading for Palm Sunday begins the final stage of Jesus' presence among His followers. This painting represents that time when some of His friends were invited to celebrate a Seder meal. This watercolor version of the story shows that we all are special to the Lord.

Spirits of Mt. St. John

The readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent emphasize living "Life in the Spirit." Therefore I chose this watercolor monotype created for the 2010 Marianist Environmental show.

“Spirits of Mt. St. John” utilizes color and shape to describe the heritage that the people, now gone, have given to us who enjoy the land, the events and the spiritual growth opportunities at Mt. St. John. Those communities of people are represented by the colors in the image: the Society of Mary (blue), the Shakers (brown/green) and the First Nations (red).

Rising Sun

The fourth Sunday of Lent tells the story of Jesus' healing of the man who was blind from birth. The message is seeking light. Paul also deals with living in the light. We all want to be enlightened and as new insights come, our life is enhanced. Those moments of "Aha!" bring important ideas to us to help us lead the fullest life possible.

I chose this painting because of the light from the sun. I painted it after going to the beach at dawn. The lack of light before sunrise made everything look gray. Then--the sun came up and color shown!

Thomas Merton wrote: "My being is given me not simply as an arbitrary and inscrutable, but as a source of joy, growth, life creativity, and fulfillment. But the decision to take existence only as an affliction is left fully to me. Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Doubleday, New York, 1989, p.221

River Daze

The readings for the third Sunday of Lent focus on the "Living Water" offered by Jesus to the woman from Samaria. Living water is a term used to designate the vitality of water in a symbolic sense.

The symbolism is that of cleansing, purification, life sustaining, thirst quenching, washing, and more. The image on the left is whimsical and yet symbolic in its own way because the river is depicted with unusual waves and creatures. One can never know what living water will bring to our lives.

Sunspot

This painting, "Sunspot" was chosen to illustrate the dramatic intervention in our world by our God. The reading for the second Sunday of Lent describes the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus: "And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun..." (Mt 17:2)

We can appreciate the importance of such intervention although we are not likely to experience it in the same way.

After Eden

"After Eden" depicts a fragmented image of what was initially a simple scene of a tree with fruit with grass, sky, and the glimmer of sunshine. In the reading for the first Sunday of Lent, Eve yields to temptation to eat of the tree in the garden that was forbidden to her. This idea of yielding to temptation is behind the meaning of this painting. The original bucolic scene is fragmented into barely discernible shapes to represent our lives when we yield to temptation and fragment our lives.