Prodigal Son Series

I love the story of the prodigal son and I've painted it many times.  These are 3 very different prodigal son paintings I did.  The largest one, I just completed today.  When I painted this, I thought about how good it would have felt to be the forgiving father and how humbling to be the forgiven son.  I've played both roles in my journey here on earth and I've also spent periods of time living life with out the ability to extend and receive forgiveness.  Those times were some of the darkest, most painful periods in my life.  I contrasted that feeling in this painting.  Light and color are exploding from the father son embrace, mingled with grateful tears like fireworks of joy!

Prodigal II
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 48"
by Cheryl Harris White
2011

Original Prodigal
Acrylic On Canvas
24" x 36"
by Cheryl Harris White
2006

             

Prodigal Banner
for CBC Parable Paint
by Cheryl Harris White
2008

Prodigal II
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 48"
by Cheryl Harris White
2011

The Original Prodigal

About this same time, I attended  LEAD training, an amazing training conference at the Howard Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership at DTS. The four main goals of this week long training were to:

• Affirm God's design and work in your life
• Discover or clarify your life dream
• Identify and address core hindrances
• Develop a game plan to facilitate fulfillment of your life dream

Basically, what I got out of this week was that, God would not have put this talent in me or this insatiable desire to create and be creative, if He didn't want me to do something with it.  Yes, it was difficult at times, and frustrating when I failed, but I could and should keep working at it.  The workshop leaders there strongly encouraged me to continue to pursue painting and see where it lead.  The result was this painting.

Original Prodigal
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 36"
Not Available

I decided to try this same palate knife technique again with the theme of the Prodigal Son.  I made the father figure in yellow and formed his arms in a circle hugging his son, bent over in repentance and humbled by his fathers's unconditional love and forgiveness. I wanted it to look kind of like a stained glass window.

I love this theme because this story is at the core of how I myself relate to God.  I am continually humbled and amazed by the unconditional forgiveness extended to me no matter how hard I fall or or deep I plunge into my own prideful indulgence.  This is my first of many attempts at this theme and it turned out better than the last one which was somewhat encouraging.  I'll show you more Prodigal Son paintings later and more that look like stained glass as well.

Also at this time, I began to search for a painting mentor here in the area and became involved with VAL (Visual Art League).  I met some very talented artists and began learning as much as I could.  I actually brought this painting to my first VAL meeting and was so encouraged by that experience.  I loved having a group of skilled and experienced artists to meet with and learn from.  More to come.