Struck by the Art

I attended an Artist reception at the Cottonwood Presbyterian Church this Sunday. The above painting “Mary Kept All These Things and Pondered Them in Her Heart “was hanging there. A man came around the corner and said, “Where is Sherry Meidell?” I introduced myself. He said that my painting struck him. He wanted to know my feelings on creating it. 

My Artist statement was hanging next to the painting. “The first time a new mother holds her little newborn, she falls in love. The bond is so strong between mother and child. Besides the strong bond of love, Mary had a lot to think about. She had the visit from an Angel, and she was willing to be the mother of Christ with all that entailed. She witnessed the visit of the shepherds and their testimonies of their own hearing a chorus of angels. But there was a lot to ponder and a lot of things to witness. She saw the Lords journey from birth to the ending on the cross. And she pondered all these things in her heart.
‘We also can ponder in our hearts her watchfulness as Christ went about his Father’s business. We can ponder what we will do to honor Him.”

So the painting struck him. That was good to hear as an artist. You put a lot of your life into a painting and it is nice to know that all that work was seen and struck a cord in someone else. He like the curly hair of the baby. I told him my husband and I had traveled to Israel and had taken a picture of a father holding his child with beautiful dark curly hair. Perhaps that photo taken years ago worked its way into my sketches.