C.S. Lewis once referred to the world as a "waiting room" to convey the idea of how we endure the time spent here in anticipation of the life to come after death. The paintings that you see on the WRW page represent my first effort at communicating this idea.

All of the images but Garden of Truth have a somewhat sober look to them. I wanted these images to communicate basic truths so I tried to keep the drama out of my palette.

The first one was View of the Abby Graveyard in November in 1997. It is the third painting I completed after college (previous two being Early Departure and Roman Skylight). The title comes from the Casper David Friedrich painting called Abby Graveyard Under Snow and makes the painting an ode to him as you can see the Abby way in the distance. The main focus of the foreground architecture is the iron in the window frames which symbolize the scene at Calvary circa 33 A.D. The water is depicted flowing mysteriously out of the ruins and into the world.

The second, chronologically, was The Purple Tree in 1997. The main theme in the painting is the architecture itself. As in each of the ruined cathedral paintings I want the viewer to think of the beauty that remains in the architecture even after it has been beaten and aged by the world. All of the ruined chathedrals and churches we see jutting up from barron landscapes stand as a testimony to faith in men. They stand as silent skeletons of history. The well represents the same idea as in View of the Abby... as the water mysteriously overflows but in this scene no one is there to taste it. The tree seemed an appropriate reminder of Peter's reference in his letter to "strangers in the world."

The third was Veritas in 1998. In this one I wanted to present a more idealistic representation of truth (in the Platonian sense). I wanted to communicate to the viewer that what is depicted there is far greater than any worldly concerns. But I wanted to do it in an understated way using a subtle color scheme. The scanned image on this site has more contrast than I would like. The title comes from a Latin phrase that, if you could see the detail, is painted as if etched next to the door frame. The phrase is, "Veritas Numquam Perit" which translates, "truth never dies."

The fourth was Autumn Antithesis in 1999. As my skills have increased over the years I am more able to communicate specific and complex concepts. And after limiting my pallette in the previous three I wanted to expand the pallette a bit while keeping the color localized. The concept deals with absolutes set against that which is transient. The church ruins set against what the church represents, the mathematical symbol of infinity (in the iron above the catacome entrances) against man's own denial of eternity, the change in season (progression of time) against the finality of death in the catacomes, the reflected illusion in the water set against the reality that created it. The white flowers and the red leaves represent the dual meaning contained in the sacrament of Communion. The title came about after reading The God Who is There by the late Francis Shaeffer. In it, among other things, he spoke about the methods of thinking known as Antithesis (predominant pre-existential thought) and Synthesis (which lead to existentialism and then modern relativism).

The fith painting on the page is Garden of Truth. It was begun in 1996 and remained unfinished untill 1999 when I was more experienced and could bring the vision in my mind to the canvas completely. It is not part of the "ruined cathedral" series but the concept fit well with the WRW. The imagery is about truths that can only be found beyond the grave. The statue represents those truths that can be found on earth but require faith to attain.

Back to WRW