The Loosener

We live in a time of addiction and so many different kinds of addiction and bondage. This painting is about the special abilities and power of Jesus Christ to help us free ourselves from whatever holds us bound. It could be a drug or alcohol addiction, a pornography addiction, a defeated attitude, a controlling relationship, fear, loneliness, debt... whatever it is for us, the number one truth here is that His enabling power, His love and His grace are available to free us. He wants us to be happy.

You know the funny or not-so-funny irony here is that those who promote actions that lead to addiction or bondage often do it under the guise of "don't keep God's laws and don't turn to Jesus because that's so restrictive, old fashioned and designed to control you." When the reality is, only those who live as Christ encourages us to live and who keep His laws are really free.

Several years ago I heard a young woman speak about her recent service in Iceland. She told that in the Icelandic language the word for the Savior is interpreted to mean, the loosener. The loosener because He loosens the chains that hold us bound. I absolutely love that definition of Jesus and it inspired this painting.

Jesus holds the keys to our freedom on all levels! In this picture you do not see His face. I wanted to push the viewer to look at His hands and His generous offering to unlock the handcuffs on this young man's wrists. He understands us and holds the key to helping us as no other ever could. He has suffered the most intimate parts of all our suffering and all our addictions.

Christ's name is always associated with freedom, religious, political, personal and in all other arenas. His counterpart, the adversary, no matter how easy his suggestions are to our ears, or how popular his ideas, will always be about slavery and bondage.

Share this with someone who is struggling with their own form of bondage... and pretty much, are there any of us who aren't struggling on some level or another?

prints are going to be made available for each of these featured paintings by June 2019

The Real Gift!

     Years ago, before the birth of my second daughter, after nearly five years of infertility treatments and many miscarriages, I was in a hospital bed much like this one. As had happened all too often for me, I was in the process of yet another miscarriage and needed a surgical procedure. To say that I was discouraged is an understatement, to say the least. After coming out of general anesthesia, I lay there too weak to speak. The nurse who was attending to me was so sweet. She made small talk with my husband to make him feel more comfortable. She asked him about his career and then about mine. He talked with her for some time and told her I was a stay-at-home mom and an artist. "Oh, that's wonderful", she said, "my sister's an artist. I didn't get any talent. She's the one in our family with talent." I couldn't respond, but I was listening. It came time for me to get dressed, sign discharge papers and go home. The nurse propped me up at a small table. I couldn't really hold my head up yet so I lay my head down on my arm. Then the nurse came over to me and did something unexpected, she kissed me on the forehead.... "I'm so sorry you are going through this. You'll be back again and next time it will be for a happy reason." (by the way, she was right. The next time I was at that hospital I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl. It took 5 long years of infertility treatments and losses in between, but it was worth it.)

     Weeks after this experience with this amazing nurse, I wrote her a letter expressing my deep appreciation for what she had done for me and reminded her that she indeed had great talents. Oh how this woman's talents impacted my life. Oh how grateful I am that she was a nurse in that hospital on that day and that she was not just "another artist". I was so low, so sad and so discouraged that day. How did she know? Her gifts were extraordinary. She sensed my heart and overlooking "the rules", she had given me love and understanding when I needed it most. No, she may not have gotten the "art talent", but she got the best talent. Is there any question as to which talent or gift is more needed in this world, artistic talent or compassionate talent? We so often measure our gifts against the showy ones or the performing ones. Why??? The gift to discern what someone else is suffering and then the gift to offer love, understanding and care, these are real gifts and are really needed. Impressing others isn't half as important as making their lives happier and better.

     That's what I want to be when I grow up, someone who blesses others. I'm still learning. But, I have tried to use my art with this nurse's gift in mind. I love that art can beautify and decorate, but to me it's mission can be so much bigger. Art can sometimes comfort and carry the love of God into the hearts of it's viewers. Sometimes people are comforted by an image when words are inadequate. That's what I hope my art will do. I don't have that nurse's exact gifts, but in the language I have been given (the language of art), my paintings are my way of kissing you on the forehead and saying, don't give up, it's going to be okay, you are loved!

Leap of Faith

Creativity is always a leap of Faith: You're faced with a blank page, a white canvas, or an empty stage.  Life is much the same way.

I set out to pursue my art degree at the age of 17.  I was young and bright-eyed with the whole world ahead of me.  I graduated with a Bachelors in Fine art, and felt I had earned the degree I had fought so very hard for.  What I didn't understand at the time, was that the true "education" would come not from Universities and Professors, but through trials and triumphs.  What I had learned about line, color, form, shape, and shadow would pale in comparison to the schooling ahead.

I was formally trained to understand the human shape and anatomy, but understanding the human heart is an essential component to creating pieces of art with true and lasting meaning.  I have come to believe that anyone can create art--in fact, all of us do in one form or another.  The techniques and principles of art can be taught.  True masters not only capture a figure, but the figurative.  They not only portray the realism offered in a portrait or a reflection, but cause the viewers to themselves reflect.

I do not consider myself in any degree a master, but one in training.  There are many marvelous and gifted artists in this world.  What I hope to offer is not simply another pretty picture.  My greatest desire is to bring comfort, joy, understanding, courage, and conviction to those who need it most.  I hope to draw not only on the techniques and principles I learned in my formal education, but more importantly from those I learned on my darkest days and through my longest nights.  Those pieces of education have become far more important strokes on my canvas than any I was ever critiqued or graded on.  Those bits of light and dark, shape and shadow, have become most essential and beloved tools.

Out Of My Comfort Zone

     Hi everyone! Welcome to my Colleen Cole Art blog. For a long time now I have been intrigued with the idea of starting a blog. 
Many of you ask me questions about my artwork, such as:

Where do you get the ideas for the paintings you paint? 
What do some of your religious paintings mean?
What are the tools you use as an artist?
What does your studio look like? 
and many other questions...
Some of you  also continue to ask me when I will be making prints available. I will be able to answer each of these questions as we go along. A blogging format allows me to share a little bit more than I can on Facebook or other social media sites. From time to time, I may even do a painting demonstration (depending on the interest). I plan to share a variety of things on my blog in the hopes that it will keep it interesting for my followers. 

     Some of you are artists as well. I always learn so much from seeing the artwork you post and I look forward to sharing with you the things I've learned as well. Thanks to each of you my friends, for the interest you have shown in my artwork. I think this will be the start of something really fun! I'll be posting religious and other non-religious work as well. There should be something for every taste. I hope you will follow my journey as I figure out this blogging thing!

     Here are a couple of pieces I painted Eastertime when my children were younger. The first one is a watercolor and the bottom one was done in oil. I love to work in both mediums. They are very different from each other and both have unique challenges to handle. These paintings are very childlike and simple in their approach. They were painted to appeal to my children. Sometimes it's fun to just "play" as we create our art. After all, art is meant to be relaxing, joyful and even therapeutic!

     I hope you all have a wonderful April and Easter with your families and friends. Enjoy the egg hunts, the candy, the egg coloring and the many other fun traditions of this holiday. It's a wonderful time to be together. Go enjoy spring and just be happy. You may even consider picking up an affordable set of watercolors and go paint! No matter what difficulties we are going through, we have so much to be happy about. I feel true JOY when I remember the real reason for the celebration... the gifts that our Savior offers us.

The Lamb

     A few years ago I had the wonderful experience of taking over 1,000 pictures, which I used as art references in doing a series of paintings about the qualities of Jesus Christ. I found three amazing Christ models who were willing to pose for these pictures. Many of my friends and neighbors also posed in those settings. I am so grateful to all the models who took of their time to help create the paintings in this series. My family also helped me on this project. My daughter, Mary, helped me by doing a lot of the photography... (She is now a grown woman and a professional photographer). That was such a fun experience. Out of those references I went on to create over 30 paintings of the Savior. This is one of them and I hope to share some of the others with you (with their meanings), as time goes on.

     This painting is entitled: The Lamb. You can see that Jesus is holding a lamb in this picture. One can see His feelings of love and tenderness for this lamb. He often refers to His role as one of a shepherd, or in His words, "the Good Shepherd'. Jesus often taught important truths in simple ways that the people of His day could understand. Shepherds are often known for the personal love and protective care they give the sheep or lambs of their fold. By referring to Himself as a shepherd, Jesus wanted us to know that He loves, protects and cares for us in much the same way as a shepherd does. When one of His fold is lost, He personally goes after them to return them to safety. When they are in harms way He warns them or gets between them and the danger. Often He uses us, His hands, to do this work of outreaching, protecting and caring for precious lambs. Jesus taught Peter (repeating three times) that if he truly loved Him, he must feed His sheep.

     Jesus Christ is also known as "The Lamb". In former times, lambs were used for sacrifice to remind the people that there was going to be a sacrifice of a perfect lamb in the future, namely Jesus Christ. He is the "Lamb of God", prepared to be offered as a sacrifice to rescue all of us. He not only goes after the lost, but He is the Savior, and by His own atoning sacrifice, all of us are rescued from death. For those who are willing to accept His conditions, His grace provides a way to receive Eternal Life.

     April is a special month as we celebrate and contemplate the birth of this amazing and perfect older brother, and as we remember what He has done for us. The cost to Him was beyond anything that any of us can understand. His atonement was an act of perfect love. No other person has ever given a gift of such infinite love. We owe Him everything.

     Spring is all about new life. Bare trees that once looked dead begin to show signs of inner life. I live near a lot of farms and every spring there are new colts, new lambs, new baby pigs and new animals of every kind. Gardens that looked dead are filled with blooming daffodils, pansies and tulips. I never look at a cemetery and think of just the dead, I think of the day when each and every one of them, who now sleeps, will be resurrected... alive again because of Jesus Christ! Oh how good God is to us to give us His Son, His only begotten Son, The Lamb!

 (A print of this painting is coming in June)
note: today at the April General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
Jeffrey R. Holland gave a great talk on The Lamb of God.