Rivers of Life

Why did you use such brown for the tree trunks? Why are the tree trunks so prominent? That’s not the right way to paint foliage. Is this supposed to be a river? It looks like a road! Your perspective is wrong. Your composition is no good. See original painting below…

How discouraging it was to hear my art mentor admonish me so harshly when i showed him what i thought was a fairly good painting i had done. I couldn’t help feeling rather disheartened and wondered if art was really for me. Maybe i wasn’t cut out to do painting after all.

Next, he said, “redo the whole painting!” My heart sank. It had taken me many hours just to attempt this on my own at home. I don’t usually like to redo my paintings as i would have already lost my zeal and inspiration for it.

Left with no choice, i did what he told me to do. I changed everything. No longer tied down by a picture, i painted according to my own imagination. And what a vast difference it made! 

The Lord taught me a good lesson in humility and obedience that day. I thought it was good enough, but it wasn’t. I thought i knew how to to do it, but i didn’t. I thought i had already learnt a lot, but there was still much, much more to learn. The most difficult part was to listen and obey.

Fast forward two years and i am still trying to become better, not just in painting, but more importantly, to be a better follower of Christ – to be humble, to listen and to obey.       By R

Blessed is the one…  whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.   Psalms 1:1-3  (NIV)