Praise Ye the LORD, digital painting, printable at up to 60" x 60"
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Is your life easy right now?
If so, has it always been this easy?
Everyone I know goes through trials and struggles on this earth. Even little children have bad days when they get the flu, or they have to go to school for the first time, or their dog dies. Everybody is sad sometimes.
When I was making this painting, my life was pretty tough. And even though this picture seems "pretty" on the surface, the meaning is much deeper.
This painting is a song of joy in the face of sorrow.
It is here to bring you rest and peace at home.
The Story of the Painting
It all began as a little sketch which was inspired by chinoiserie.
What on Earth is Chinoiserie?
Chinoiserie is a French word which is pronounced "shin WAH zur ee" and simply means "Chinese." It refers to 17th- and 18th-century European art which was inspired by the Chinese and Japanese wares that were slowly becoming available through newly-opened trade routes.
Europeans adored the Eastern style with its gentle depictions of birds, trees, flowers and pavilions, and they copied this style into everything from carpets to teapots.
Soft-paste porcelain teapot from France, via Wikipedia
Incidentally, this Asian influence never really went away. For example, it made a huge mark on European Impressionism, particularly the work of Vincent Van Gogh. He had quite a collection of Japanese prints. He even made copies of some of them.
And the influence flowed in both directions.
Court Ladies Sewing Western Clothing, via the Met
I first learned about chinoiserie when I was terribly sick from thyroid disease. I was struggling with a lot of difficult symptoms, and the worst was the fatigue. I could barely wash the dishes, and I certainly wasn't strong enough to paint anything at large scale.
So I would spend my days scrolling through interior design blogs, particularly the wonderful blog of Laurel Bern. Laurel loves this style as much as I do, and wrote several articles about it.
She particularly loves those elegant Chinese wallpaper panels with birds and flowers set against a colorful background. And of course, that also includes the French copies like this one from about 100 years ago. Even faded and stained, it's still delightful.
I must not be the only person who follows her blog, because since then I've noticed more and more of this style showing up in design magazines. And after looking at them for so long, I decided to create a version for myself.
I scanned my little drawing and began tracing out the trees.
And in a spirit of grandiosity, I made the digital painting so large that you can make a print that's five feet tall.
I soon discovered that this was an even bigger project than I had intended. People think that digital art is easier because there's always an "undo" button. However, the reality is that it's simply a different medium, not a better one, and it has its own challenges to overcome.
The greatest challenge on a large piece like this was that I would make something look pretty good up close, like this lady pheasant:
But then when I backed out to look at the big view, it would be all muddled and muddy.
I returned to my source material and considered how the classical Chinese and Japanese painters solved this problem. I also pored over the European copies made in France and England.
They often had a delicate, watercolor-like style with ink outlines. Sometimes the outlines were fine, and other times they were energetic and expressive. They were usually stylized as well; they weren't a perfect match to a photo. They used patterns and shading.
I worked on this for a few months, patiently painting in the trees and birds.
And then, praise God, my thyroid disease improved, and suddenly I could paint at a big canvas again. I laid aside my gigantic chinoiserie project half-finished.
And there it sat. A few years went by.
The True Comfort of Art
Then I got COVID in August of 2022, just when everyone thought it was finally going away. And my symptoms persisted.
As the leaves fell from the trees and winter set in, it became clear that I would be sick for awhile. Nobody knew how long it would last, because long COVID is still a new syndrome, and also because it was complicated by my thyroid disease.
I was worried, and sad, and too sick to paint at my big canvases.
But then I remembered them, my little pheasants, waiting patiently for me.
In that world, it was perpetually Springtime, and the birds were always singing.
How slow my progress seemed to be! Every little flower needed separate attention. Every leaf required its own subtle shading.
I even repainted the little lady pheasant, and gave her a pair of irises to keep her company. It was turning into a pleasant little land.
And then just when I thought I was finished...
...I realized that I wanted a version in blue, too.
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This required a hundred little changes, or perhaps more. With the switch to monochrome, I was moving from a color-based painting to one based entirely on tone and pattern. I had to replace the little green butterfly...
...and the little white flowers...
...and a dozen other things.
Plus, there was one more element to add.
The element of JOY.
When I was sick from COVID and thyroid disease, I would lay in bed unable to sleep. And I would try to pray.
Perhaps you've had nights like this. Nights when your mind keeps racing with worry about all of the things that are weighing you down. Or nights of physical pain when you can't rest because you can't get comfortable.
It is on nights like this that I learned to praise the Lord.
I would lay in bed and think of the last Psalms in the Bible:
From Psalm 148:
Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl . . .
And again from Psalm 150, my favorite line:
Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
I would repeat this to myself over and over again, and it was as if I could feel the light of God entering my soul and soothing all of my aches and my worries. Thus I would fall asleep, soothed by the heavenly Light.
And so I added this to my painting as well.
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And I think the Dutch Blue looks great just about anywhere; it's made to resemble classic blue-and-white porcelain.
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Perfect for those of us who love chinoiserie, or Japonisme, as Japanese-inspired works are called.
Teapot from the Worcester Factory, via the Met
Now, my original thought was to create these images in three panels as you saw in the original header at the top of this blog post. Chinoiserie scenery is often presented on panels, which are derived from the painted screens that were once imported from Asia.
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However, it quite simply costs more to print them in three panels, and anyway that format isn't suitable for every home; so I've also included them in single panels.
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Or for those of you that are just starting your collection, they're available in little mini-prints which show a detail of the two larger pheasants.
These "tabletop prints" are great because they come with a little easel on the back, and you can prop them up on a shelf or desk. They're about the size of a large greeting card, so they make great gifts for the Christian ladies in your life.
You can see all the variations here:
