Perfect Pictures

The Christian Science Sentinel, Sept. 24, 2007

I remember spending afternoons sitting on the floor beside my bedroom window with a sketchpad and a box of colored pencils. I would ardently draw things that I was inspired to reflect on, from the tree just outside, to the house across the street. Sometimes I’d even work on a sketch or painting that would end up as an entry in a local fair. And even if this artwork didn’t win any ribbons, I was almost never left feeling discouraged. I simply wanted to express the beauty and individuality of everything I laid eyes on. Everything around me seemed like a good reason to start another art project.

When I was in junior high school, I took a summer art class, thinking it would be great to gain some extra school credit by doing something I loved. Each assignment required that I complete a new type of artwork using different kinds of medium, including charcoals, pencils, and even collage materials. Though I found each assignment interesting, it was difficult to find the inspiration to draw or portray subjects that had been assigned to me, since, in the past, I’d become accustomed to choosing my own subjects. It seemed as if everything about my artwork was turning out wrong. Instead of feeling inspired when I was about to pick up a pencil to sketch, it felt as if the talent I needed was missing.

After just barely finishing the class that summer, I found my confidence seemed to come and go. That fall, I was too busy with school and too discouraged about my abilities to continue. After years of spending hours of devoted time to artwork, it no longer seemed enjoyable.

For the next couple of years I sketched on and off, but this lack of enthusiasm still seemed to exist. Despite these feelings, I often thought about the real purpose behind doing my artwork—to express God in His beauty, perfect form, and individuality. I’d attended a Christian Science Sunday School my whole life and was familiar with the idea that all of us, as God’s children, reflect and express God’s good qualities. They are spiritual because God is Spirit. I began to realize that I hadn’t always seen the spirituality expressed in the things I was drawing. Often, I’d been so busy focusing on the subject’s material form and structure, making sure that I was illustrating it correctly, that I missed out on communicating the qualities the subject expressed. Also, since I was concerned about the finished piece looking perfect, mistakes had seemed to be unconquerable blockades that prevented me from enjoying the actual process of sketching, as well as the final results.

At last, in my sophomore year of high school, I felt inspired to pick up a pen, and I began to recreate a picture of a French church and shops shown in my French textbook. After years of falsely accepting that confidence, talent, and artistic capabilities can come and go, I decided it was time to realize that these are all permanent qualities of God. Since God was present at all times, I knew those qualities must be with me at all times, too.

As I continued to draw, instead of hoping that my sketch exactly matched the picture in the book, I began focusing on capturing the spiritual ideas that the picture expressed. For example, when I looked at the picture, I could see past the stone of the church to the qualities of structure, sturdiness, resonance, and faith. The contrast between light and darkness also stood out. And the intelligence the architecture represented, along with the excitement that the juxtaposition of the buildings created, made me think about a trip to France I’d taken. I used good thoughts and feelings about this trip to fuel my creativity.

This verse from the Bible brought out how I was now thinking about God-given talents: “For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail”(I Kings 17:14). This led me to the description of oil as defined by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health: “Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration” (p. 592). To me, the cruse of oil in the Bible passage represented creativity, ability, or a true spiritual goal. And I knew that I could never lack those things, since God provides all that I need. Also, the words “heavenly inspiration” from Science and Health especially stood out to me. It was nice to know that in Spirit there is never a void of inspiration. And since I expressed this Spirit in all my activities, I couldn’t lack this inspiration.

Throughout the next couple of days, I continued to work on my sketch of the French church. Anytime I wasn’t completely sure of what I should do next, I thought about how I couldn’t create anything without God’s help—without reflecting my Creator. Every step of the way, I could express Him in my unique way as I listened for ideas. It was comforting to realize this same Spirit enabled artistic masters such as Renoir, Warhol, and Monet to express their artistic talent in individual ways.

After I’d successfully and contentedly finished my sketch, I found this quote in Science and Health: “The crude creations of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal” (p. 264). These ideas described the transition I went through with my art so well! When I thought the goal was merely to draw and mimic the objects around me, I lost sight of the beauty behind my artistic activities. But once I thought about expressing the spiritual ideas straight from God, my approach to art in general changed.

Now, I feel complete satisfaction when I draw, and have begun to try new forms of art, such as photography. I’m enjoying expressing the beauty of God’s creation through my art—without any limits. |CSS

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