This series of painting has been building within my for the past decade. It started from a conversation with a spiritual director, and then a commitment to paint simple views of Lake Superior on a regular basis, in an attempt to slow down, to experience sabbath, and to connect with God’s leadership in my life at a very practical level.

There’s something powerful for us humans as we spend time around bodies of water. And I wanted to capture something of what I experience as I relax around the sights and sounds of water. I wanted to capture what that actually felt like, whether or not you can see the shape of the ripples and reflections.

Experiencing these paintings are a bit like experiencing my favorite genre of music: Jazz. It takes more time as you put yourself in front of the work to allow your mind to slow enough to notice what you don’t immediately see. That’s true with all art. As you slow down, as you quiet the relentless fast-pace thoughts that are coursing through… you’ll eventually have ah-ha moments from the painting itself, as well as from within. It’ll be well worth the twenty to thirty minutes it’ll take to get there.