The idea for my newest painting, "Death Brings Life", was born during my trip last May to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. In parts of the park there are many huge fallen trees from a large forest fire that forever changed the landscape of the park.  There were so many trees randomly dispersed on the hills that it looked like God just dropped a box of toothpicks there and didn't bother to pick them up. The shear number of these dead and decaying trees amongst the bright green trees beginning to spring up made a lasting visual impact on me and got me thinking about something I learned from a park ranger at Yosemite National Park a few years ago.  She told me that some trees have pinecones that can only release seeds when they are set on fire which I thought was interesting because it meant that the trees had to die in order to continue living.  I think that this is an applicable lesson to our lives as humans as we experience the unforeseen trials and struggles of our everyday lives.  We must remember that those times are simply the fire that seems horrible at the time but in the end it is for a greater purpose. It is during the hard times that our character either grows (if we depend on God for our strength) or declines (if we depend on ourselves), and thus we are changed, as the person we once were dies and we are molded into someone new.  

As I painted this painting I knew that I wanted to include it in my Biblical Challenge Series but I wasn't sure at first how it would fit.  But as I pondered over its theme of death bringing life I realized that this visual contrast of life and death was a natural picture of God’s message to us here on earth.   And so I decided to use 1 Peter 2:24 because it is about how Jesus died so that we can live, just like the trees have to die to live. 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24

"Death Brings Life" is the conclusion of my Biblical Challenge Series.

I chose Tom Thompson as my artistic inspiration for this piece because of his amazing landscapes and tree paintings.  Check out my artistic heros page to see what I'm talking about.

Also you can see what this painting looked like in progress here and as a special bonus you can see my musical inspirations too.