“How precious are your thoughts unto me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.”
Psalms Chapter 139, verses 17, 18
Have you ever heard of an imaginary colour? Consider the rainbow, you’ve probably heard some iteration of “ROY G. BIV” to describe the colours of the visual light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The cones of our eyes detect different wavelengths of light and interpret them as colours somewhere along this spectrum.
There are, however, imaginary colours that we perceive but are not actually present on the spectrum. One such colour is magenta, the combination of red and violet from opposite ends of the spectrum. It is with this in mind that I allowed magenta paintto penetrate the other colours of this piece.
“…when I awake, I am still with you.”
From the moment I read this passage, it struck me. There’s a line between the vast mysteries of God’s greatness, the expanse and wonder of creation; and then the tangible nearness of a loving saviour as we wake into this broken world.
I find myself looking back on dreams and visions often; imagining with my mind the places only my spirit has seen, and meditating on the promises fulfilled, and those that lay ahead. When I painted this piece, I was considering a garden where I had met the Lord in my dreams. The warmth of the sunlight through the trees, the cool of a river that ran by me, and the words I heard Him say to me.
These two worlds, the Kingdom and the yearning earth are still at odds with one another. Until the hour Jesus returns, we bear his fruit in juxtaposition like the magenta grapes of a vine; made available to all between the red of salvation, and the violet of His kingdom come.