I had the opportunity to display two different paintings at a conference that the organization I work for put on. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, hosts REC Week each year where students and staff workers from Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas gather for a week of community, scripture study, worship, training, and planning. The theme for 2017 was “Transformed”. The main speakers talked about how our lives can be transformed by God’s work, using the book of Ruth to explain how God changes our lives dramatically and permanently for the better.
There were two weeks of the conference, so each week I worked on a different painting. When the paintings were first hung they were just dead trees, signifying something in need of change.
But between the sessions I took the paintings and secretly painted on them to ‘transform’ the trees. Each time rehanging them in their original spot so that they would show up unexplainably changed.
The trees gained leaves, evidence of personal change.
And finally flowers, signifying their ability to effect the world around them with the beauty that came from their transformation.
The vertical painting was 3′ by 4′ and the horizontal was 4′ by 3′. Both were done in acrylic on loose canvas. There are slots sewn into the top and bottom so that I could stick PVC pipes into them to hold the canvas straight.
Gina the Artist 