Gallery wrapped canvas prints available here
Fine art paper prints available here
I planned to paint this outside to celebrate my 4 year sobriety anniversary. I got to start the piece outside but then the wind started whipping. My paint was drying instantly as it touched the canvas. I couldn’t see half the time cuz my hair was in my face. Then the farmer across the road pulled up with a few tractors and semis to harvest. Which was just hilarious to have so much going on for this painting I’m calling “Surrender”!! And to top it off the verse I turned in the Bible right before I got started painting outside was…
“Wine makes you mean, beer makes you quarrelsome— a staggering drunk is not much fun.”
Proverbs 20:1 MSG. Lol I was cracking up so hard because that’s why I quit drinking alcohol! It’s not funny that I was a mean drunk but it blows my mind when God shows up this way speaking so direct to me. Absolutely amazing!
But with what felt like chaos surrounding me it turned out the greatest example of how we need to surrender and go with the flow. It’s not our plan but Gods! “Surrender” is the path to peace, joy and contentment. And that path is paved with prayers and gratitude. Through it all I have learned that surrendering everyday sometimes all day long is good for my heart, mind and soul. Some days are more challenging but then there is growth. Let go. Trust in God. God uses everything for his good.
“So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. All power to him forever! Amen.”
1 Peter 5:6-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.5.6-11.NLT. #god #jesus #holyspirit #godsplan #surrender #sobriety #peace #joy #contentment #firmfoundation #humble #faith #path #prayers #gratitude #bible #create #arthealsthesoul #mind #heart #soul #abstractartworks #acrylicpaintings #letgo #trust #recovery #godsplan
Artwork interpretation
I felt called to paint this outside in front of this beautiful tree in our yard to represent laying everything at the foot of the cross. Also because the leaves were changing brilliant colors and fall is the perfect reminder of God glorious colorful creation but also a great reminder of letting go. Seasons change. Trees represent wisdom, family and the connection between earth and heaven.
I started out with a black canvas to represent the darkness that we all experience in this life. Then I painted a face that looks like it could be angry, frustrated, sad, disappointed or whatever feeling you interpret is OK. This is the third year in a row that I’ve painted around my sobriety date to celebrate. That screaming face represents the pain and suffering I experienced during my darkest times and sometimes still experience. I take the face and flip it upside down and create a line with watered down paint to represent the head being submerged to represent our sins being washed away by the water.
Then I painted a silhouette of a person in a surrender pose down on their knees forehead down with their arms stretched out straight in front of them on the ground. Then I painted light starting to come up behind the silhouette of the person that looks like people pulling each other up. They represent all the people alive and in heaven that help us and guide us. The overall image at this point also represents a fire that is burning inside my heart and soul for God.
The black lines that drip from underneath the person represents the pain from the past that grips us and the temptation of the future that tries to keep us stuck in the past by making the same choices. The devil wants to keeps us stuck. Then I start to paint water over and through those black lines to represent the Holy Spirit working through us to free us from everything.
Then I painted the blue sky to represent a new day where there is hope, progress and growth. Every day is a clean slate where we can start again and try to do better. It’s a choice everyday who your going to serve the Light or the Dark.
I was inspired to paint bubbles being released from the person into the sky to represent all of the things that we need to let go of.
Trust in God with all of your heart and do not lean onto your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6
God has a plan and is already working through everything that your up against. Lean into God and have faith!
Thank you for checking out my website and seeing how God is working through it all. Peace be with you.
Check out my timelapse of the process on my instagram @renaezanella or on my Facebook reels.
Also check out “Immerse” and “Soak”
“From Galilee, Jesus returned to Jerusalem to observe one of the Jewish feasts. Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool called in Aramaic, The House of Loving Kindness, surrounded by five covered porches. Hundreds of sick people were lying under the covered porches—the paralyzed, the blind, and the crippled—all of them waiting for their healing. For an angel of God periodically descended into the pool to stir the waters, and the first one who stepped into the pool after the waters swirled would instantly be healed. Among the many sick people lying there was a man who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there, he knew that the man had been crippled for a long time. Jesus said to him, “Do you truly long to be well?” The sick man answered, “Sir, there’s no way I can get healed, for I have no one to lower me into the water when the angel comes. As soon as I try to crawl to the edge of the pool, someone else jumps in ahead of me.” Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!” Immediately he stood up—he was healed! So he rolled up his mat and walked again!
Now Jesus worked this miracle on the Sabbath. When the Jewish leaders saw the man walking along carrying his sleeping mat, they objected and said, “What are you doing carrying that? Don’t you know it’s the Sabbath? It’s not lawful for you to carry things on the Sabbath!” He answered them, “The man who healed me told me to pick it up and walk.” “What man?” they asked him. “Who was this man who ordered you to carry something on a Sabbath?”
But the healed man couldn’t give them an answer, for he didn’t yet know who it was, since Jesus had already slipped away into the crowd. A short time later, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “Look at you now! You’re healed! Walk away from your sin so that nothing worse will happen to you.” Then the man went to the Jewish leaders to inform them, “It was Jesus who healed me!” From that day forward the Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus because of the things he did on the Sabbath.”
John 5:1-16 TPT
Leave a Reply