Category: Biblical Paintings

Biblical Paintings: Parshat Pinchas: Detail of artwork

Biblical Paintings

Why make Biblical paintings in a world where art is so rarely used to serve a religious or spiritual purpose? For me, the answer lies in the question itself. Namely, because of their rarity, the contribution that new and contemporary Biblical paintings can make is all the greater. My work is intended as part educational (to illustrate topics from the sacred texts), and part inspirational (engendering a connection with the underlying meaning of the Bible).

The Role of Colour

Colour is key in my Biblical artwok. I use a lot of bright colours but my mainstay is cerulean blue in various levels of saturation, often deepened with ultramarine. For me these blues symbolise the sky, the sea and the Eternal. It is the most spiritual colour, the most hopeful and the most joyous. Counterbalancing that, I often use orange and reddish hues. These symbolise the earth, the desert, Sinai itself, the place from where the Bible originates, given to Moses by G-d. They are colours of fire, of power, of authority, of the harsh realities of this earthly life, and are in stark contrast to the ethereal blues of the sea and the sky. Between the blues and the oranges, there I use, carefully, a wide range of colours. These can express many things and connect to many levels in the spiritual realms.

Further Reading on Colour

Many theoreticians and artists have written on the subject of colour. Of particular note are: Vassily Kandinsky, Margarethe Hauschka, and Rudolf Steiner. (Personally I do find them interesting, but it’s important not to take them too seriously!)

New Promised Land

The artist with his finished canvas: Entering the Promised Land (II)

After 40 years of wandering in the desert, the people of Israel are finally entering the Promised Land! This is a newly-commissioned painting based on an earlier version of this scene. I’ve just finished varnishing it and am soon to send it to its new home. The Judaean hills, covered in ancient goat-trails, provided the […]

Pilgrimage painting

Contemporary Biblical Art. Landscape painting with desert valley at dawn. Pilgrimage to holy river. Twelve tribes

Pilgrimage: A Biblical Painting This imaginary Biblical painting tells a story: Once a year, pilgrims visit this most secret and sacred valley of the desert, where veins of gold run through the rock, symbolizing eternal wisdom and the divine (אלוקות). Each of the Twelve Tribes is represented, wearing variations of their tribal colours and, between […]

Shepherdess in Mousehole

British naive art. Shepherdess painting in Little Picture Gallery, Mousehole.

Judy Joel, owner of the delightful Little Picture Gallery in Mousehole, Cornwall, sent me these pictures of my Shepherdess painting in her gallery’s Christmas window display. I never thought of this painting as relating to Christmas in any way – but it does fit rather well!

Finding new life in an old painting – a Biblical scene.

biblical scene - detail 3

The subject is an undefined Biblical scene, in the Land of Israel. Since it is made up of different layers which have accumulated over a few years of painting and re-painting, the canvas itself has started to take on something of an archaeological character. It’s an unresolved picture. I’m aiming to bring it alive now […]

Rediscovered High Priest Painting

Recently I rediscovered this, rolled up and covered in dust, in my store-room: A painting of a High Priest. Based on an etching of a turbaned gentleman in Egypt, by the wonderful Mexican artist Francisco Zuniga (1912 – 1998), I abandoned it several years ago – possibly because I didn’t know how to deal with […]

Remember (after Nicholas Roerich); in tribute to Reshad Feild

Mountain landscape painting; Remember (after Nicholas Roerich)

Remember (after Nicholas Roerich) Oil painting on canvas, 35 1/2 ” x 55 ” (90cm x 140cm), sealed with damar varnish. Price: $1475 + shipping In tribute to author, musician and spiritual teacher Reshad Feild, I am now offering this painting for sale. I first came upon Reshad Feild’s book The Invisible Way (Element Books, 1979) […]

Art gift for Rosh Hashana

This original piece of Jewish art would make a beautiful and very special Rosh Hashana gift, celebrating the seven species described in Parshat Ekev. Prominent among them, in my picture, is the pomegranate. The midrash describes this fruit as having 613 seeds, corresponding to the number of mitzvot in the Torah. This is a decorative […]

A Sea Song

    Magical Art of the Red Sea And now: A boy, who is a prince and a minstrel too, plays the flute by the shores of a desert sea – the Red Sea. Behind him, we see his boat floating above colourful fish in a turquoise-blue sea. A dolphin swims gently by, while in […]