The Tree Near the Side of the Road

I am learning about perspective in my oil painting class.

Usually I rush into a painting, excited to get it started. But in this particular photograph of a tree near the side of road, my teacher encouraged me to keep proper perspective in the underpainting.

To project accurate perspective, the elements must line up correctly to the horizon line. The road, the clouds, the tree in this photograph must be in proper alignment in the initial painting for it to be precise in the final project.

Over and over again, I draw and redraw lines of the road, and repaint the dimensions in the clouds in the sky to reflect true perspective.

During the time I am working on this painting project, I discover I need cataract surgery. My teacher jokes that after the surgery my painting will be much clearer, and I will be amazed to see what I did not see before.

Ironically, I discovered I had a cataract because I was having trouble seeing clearly after receiving a new prescription for some very stylish glasses. Concerned, I returned to the doctor to find a fast growing cataract was clouding my vision. The disproportionate images that were frustrating me in my visual field were caused by a film growing over the lens of my eye.

The only way to remove the film was to replace the lens, a very common surgery with today’s technology but one that caused me great anxiety.

My knowledgeable ophthalmologist who is my new favorite doctor was very calm and reassuring during surgery, but asked me after the procedure, why were you so afraid? My answer: decades ago I had very successful Lasik surgery, but there is a three second period during surgery where you cannot see anything. That fear of not being able to see left a fear filled impression imprinted on my mind.

During the cataract procedure I remember listening to the calm voice of my surgeon saying,  “Just follow the light, follow the light” of his surgical instrument. And I took deep, cleansing breaths that allowed me to listen to his guidance and trust him.

Fear and darkness can paralyze. But Light heals. The places light touches give us freedom to let go.

Fear and darkness can paralyze. But Light heals. The places light touches gives us freedom to let go.  

Follow the light.

Let go of fear.

Abandon control.

…the only way we can brush against the hem of the Lord or hope to be part of the creative process is to have the courage, the faith, to abandon control.

Madeleine L’Engle

 

The woman who brushed against the hem of Jesus hoped for the healing of the silent, lonely parts unseen, the hidden bleeding parts of her body and soul. She hoped the healer would mend the places no one could see simply by her reaching for a thread of his garment.

The woman who brushed against the hem of Jesus hoped for the healing of the silent, lonely parts unseen, the hidden bleeding parts of her body and soul. She hoped the healer would mend the places no one could see simply by her reaching for a thread of his garment.

The woman who was bleeding held her silent pain for years. Outcast from others because she was unclean, she bore the tragedy of her condition alone. She knew if she could only touch the hem of his robe, she would be healed.

It took surgery to heal the physical limitations of my vision. Still, there is pain lingering in these bones of mine, an internal bleeding for my own physical and emotional health and the emotional health of others. As a woman we carry the pain of so many around us who live with unseen pain that throbs, lingers, seeps into the bone and marrow, and obstructs the vision.

My vision is clearer now because of the expertise of a surgeon.

But in the places unseen that still carry pain, it is for the hem of Jesus’ robe I reach for healing. My arthritic hand stretches out to grasp and hold on to the reasons he walked toward that dusty road of the cross.

To heal. Completely.

The cross is the tree near the side of the road.

In this painting, a work in progress, I continue to work and rework the correct perspective of the tree near the side of the road.

For the vertical and horizontal lines of the cross ground our perspective.

The vertical and horizontal lines of the cross are designed to heal.

Vina Mogg
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