"The Prayer"

11x14" Oil on canvas
palette knife technique

This painting is a demo I did recently to not only show the things you can do with a palette knife, but also to show the difference between the mist filled background hills and the brightly lighted gazebo with dappled foreground shadows. It is a location at the Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort.

Before the class began their paintings, I led them in a relaxation meditation to ‘center’ them and to demonstrate a method for getting into the ‘zone’ of concentration for painting. It was extremely interesting to see the results of their paintings when they relaxed their control and relaxed into the ‘zone’.

After I took the painting home, I continued to play with it, and realized that the gazebo and setting was beginning to look more and more like a place I go in my mind’s eye when I meditate and pray.

So....because it answered my prayer to be able to share this aspect of relaxing into the painting ‘zone’ with my students successfully, and because it looks like one of my mind’s favorite places, I’ve called it “The Prayer”.