Loved - Never Forgotten Prophetic Art by Jennifer Phillips
2005
Australia has some unusual juxtapositioning of things. After taking photos of rocks, I used Terra Painter to create a surface map with a lot of flat areas. I opened it up in Terragen and did some sculpting to get the rocks where I wanted them with the sun rays shining down. I used one of the rock photos as a surface texture.
I sat in
church wondering and praying about what to put in the spotlight. I thought
a flower might work. As I drove home I saw a single red flower growing
on the side of the road. I went home and got my digital camera. I took
a number of shots and then moved the grass away from the base. As I
did the petals fell off. The timing was perfect. I had captured the
flower just in time. A wild poppy fitted in perfectly with what I wanted to say in this image. I took the rendered image into Photoshop and joined
3 photos so as not to have any foreshortening in the flower stem.
In 2006 the image won "The peoples choice award" in the "Art Views in the Hills" exhibition in Wanniassa (view), even though it was hung in one of the least visible places, well below eye level. I was surprised for I thought people might not even notice it where it was hung. It was a bit like the poppy in the image itself standing alone in a desert like place. But God saw it. As the spotlight shone down on the flower, so the spotlight shone on my art work, singling it out. It was noticed and honored. It was not forgotten. It reminded me of the image I had made called "Something beautiful for God" (view).
In 2008 on the very day I was editing the section in my autobiography about how I created "Loved Never Forgotten," I had to walk to visit the doctor because our car had been stolen. Beside the footpath, where I was sure to see it, was a single red poppy. I'd never seen one growing beside this path before and it was the only one! It was the same type as the one I had seen and captured for my art work, only this one looked stronger and had a second bud. I went back later in the day with my camera but the petals had already fallen off. For it to have been in full bloom as I was passing by, on the day I was editing this part of this book, was amazing. A week later and it wouldn't have been there as the grass along the road was cut. I said, "Are You going to put my art in the spotlight again, Lord?"
When I checked my emails the following day there was an enquiry from a lady in Arizona who wanted to show my art to a group of church leaders and educators. She wanted to show them that Christian art could be more than "felt glued on felt," and "pretty photos with texts printed on them."
This art can be bought as a greeting card
Similar theme - photo I took of a flower by the Pool of Bethesda in Israel in 2011
"I haven't forgotten you," the Holy Spirit whispered.
I knew He hadn't and wondered why he was saying that.
Lovely things can grow even in difficult places.
The harsh environment accentuates their beauty.
Others too
have
preceeded you
living on the edge.
