I had the pleasure of attending an exhibit on Saturday that featured many of the paintings of American Pre-Raphaelite artists. This painting by Thomas Charles Farrer was one that really captured my imagination…
Mount Tom, 1865, Thomas Charles Farrer, 1839-1891, oil on canvas, 15.9 x 24.2 inches, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Image Source
More about this painting and the special exhibition can be found on “>Facebook.
Doesn’t it look like a photograph? So amazingly beautiful…so peaceful and calm.
Farrer has captured a single moment in time and perfectly preserved it so that it might become eternal.
Notice how this artist has even captured the mirror image of the clouds in the water…a perfect reflection observed by a loan fisherman as he sits in the shade of the steep bank. See how he paints each individual leaf and all the shadows perfectly cast. Looking into the distance, I can see the water turn to a slight shimmer as it hugs the opposite shoreline.
Viewing this, I imagine myself on the banks of a great journey…a passage that must be crossed and yet a pause to savor the exquisite beauty of the scene as it is laid out before me.
Learning to praise God by taking a Sabbath rest helps you to realize that when we remember to regularly pause, God can fill our hearts with Divine Seeing. Perhaps this is the loan purpose of summertime. I hope you will sit on the banks of a beautiful scene somewhere and just be present…fully breathing in the moment and listening for God’s voice.
“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to your name. Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot–come, let us rejoice in him.” ~ Psalm 66: 1-6
God Thru the Arts 
