Art Notes

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

–Genesis 1:1-3

The story of creation is one of the most compelling narratives in the Bible and was an exciting challenge to capture in oil. In this work, I not only wanted to depict the beauty and essential nature of the Garden of Eden but I attempted to give vision to those first moments in time when God created the universe and separated the light from the dark. In looking at the Tree of Life, one can see the cosmos unfolding in its branches as the divine plans for all reality make themselves apparent in the bark. Each of the 6 days of creation are there and represented. Adam and Eve look on as creatures of the land, air and water come forth into the glory of the garden. In the garden, life from the entire world is represented. And finally as light came from dark and creation from the void, so did corruption arise from perfection in the garden as the serpent appears in Eden. The Garden of Eden is the last title in my first series of Bible Stories. I hope you have also enjoyed the other paintings completing this collection; Noah, Jonah, and Exodus and, as always, I want to thank you for sharing my adventure in art.

Key Points

• Look closely and you might even recognize a “great fish” in its infancy that will eventually grow to swallow Jonah.
• Each of the 6 Days of Creation are represented, can you find them all?
• The serpent of temptation carries the forbidden fruit.