Acrylic on Canvas 36"x48"
John 14:27

At the beginning of Covid distancing and social isolation, there was uneasiness. The whole event turned life upside down for everyone. It shattered my illusion of the ‘good life’. We had plans, we had investments, we had a system of life that was smooth, predictable… sort of. Well before all this, I had an image in my mind. It was the end of February before the pandemic. I saw something like a mirror image being shattered. The idea is here in this painting I call, “Solitude Shatters”. The title is a bit ambiguous. It could be saying that our solitude, as we have known it, shatters. Or, it could also refer to what this time of isolation may have developed in us inwardly.

The solitude we have known may have been more ‘solitary living’. What we thought was the good life, the idea that we can live out our plans and expect a measure of personal success, has been shattered. Solitary, insular living has shown itself to me to be pretty hollow. We jostled with people freely without ever really noticing them.

“Solitude Shatters” can also refer to the impact that social distancing imposed upon us has had. It has actually shattered the way we think about our purpose, our creativity, our relationships that we desperately miss. What little control we really exert on future hopes might be emerging out of what has been shattered, a kind of reassembly of priorities… things that we can affect, lasting things.

Primary in the painting is the face and finger to the lips ‘shushing’. It is at the apex of an outward bursting or shattering of dark remains, shards of an earlier existence. From behind, molten life with many colors energizes an outward movement. The figure could be indicating, “Be at peace, or be reconnected. Be part of the flow.” 

For me, this painting forecasts these shifts globally. Solitary living has been replace by the fruit of solitude… a longing to express, to create, to flow with others in purpose, to see what your life offers instead of what life owes you.

John 14:27   “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

A few Facebook comments after showing the painting at the Vineyard Creative Festival: [click here to go interview]

• Perceptions shattering in the silence.
• Mirror shattering! I can’t see myself anymore but I can see God!
• Silence shattering my perceptions.
• The shush is shattering everything that needs shattering.
• Whoah... like 'absence' can be stronger than 'presence' sometimes.
• I think some of the political stuff trying to shush people, and yet on another level in the turmoil and shaking, just relax and go into rest.
• Silence shatters....breaking the old framework, but be quiet and still in the midst.
• The silencing of untruths we’ve believed for so long.