Inspirational
Empty Canvas
“What is most satisfying for me about painting,” remarked Calvin, a Christian landscape painter, “is looking at an empty canvas. Then, when your hand starts swishing and swooshing your brush on it, this white space begins to be filled with shapes and colors that form into something beautiful!”
“Where do you get your ideas?” asked an art enthusiast.
“Why, from Scripture and creation, of course!” he replied. “Just looking around, I see God’s amazing works. When I read my Bible, I see images that come to life for me. There are not enough canvases to capture all of nature’s grace!”
Psalm 104:24-25 (NIV) mentions some of God’s spectacular creation. “How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small.”
As a beholder moves her eyes across Calvin’s paintings, she marvels at the work of God’s hands: oceans rolling with bigger-than-life waves; fields teeming with crops below and birds above; mountains and clouds embracing; animals cavorting under the skies; flowers meeting bees and butterflies; and waterfalls cascading to boulders on the ground.
“He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.” (Psalm 95:4-5)
Calvin’s paintings, amazing and astonishing, are all inspired by our Creator. And yet, it will take all of Calvin’s lifetime to capture perhaps only one percent of God’s magnificent creation.
How do we contain and reflect on God’s creation in the canvas of our heart?
