Religious works
While considering this painting of our Savior Jesus Christ in Gethsemane I determined that, although I would try to portray the Lord’s incomprehensible suffering, I also wanted to preserve His majesty, His godliness. I knew this would be a struggle and it definitely was, but I also felt so many moments of inspiration that encouraged me to proceed.
I decided, after several preliminary sketches, that the angel sent to strengthen our Lord would do so simply with his presence so I place him beside the Savior on the same plane, rather than hovering over Him. And farther in the background, “about a stone’s cast” sleeps Peter, James, and John as this greatest of all events unfolds before them. To me this scene with the apostles sleeping is symbolic of each of us as we slumber, so to speak, incapable of fully understanding the great sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I placed the olive grove horizon line higher in the composition so that I could surround the figure of Christ and the angel in a dark tangle of branches and weeds representing all the dark world of sin and suffering that he would take upon Himself. I slightly illuminated these surroundings with the moonlight and the glow of the two foreground figures while the three apostles are lit in the background by the subtle glow of a small oil lantern.
It was indeed a struggle to adjust the composition in the large 50” by 50” square format. I spent days and nights repeatedly painting and scraping away until I found the suitable arrangement of figures and overall composition.
