Clyde Kilby's Resolution & the Super Moon

I first heard about Clyde Kilby through a John Piper sermon. He then posted Kilby's 10 resolutions for mental health on his blog. There is something so refreshing to feeling small on a great big planet, in a great big universe, held together by an even greater and bigger God. It is a gulp of oxygen to the soul.

Here is the Clyde Kilby quote I mentioned in my Gallery Talk on Thursday:

At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

 I spent Saturday night feeling this so deeply. The night sky and the sunrise are especially potent reminders.

Super Moon, 6x8, oil

It wasn't the night of the fullest moon appearance, still just stunning!

 

Nocturnes are tricky. Incredibly fun, but tricky. I was painting by the light of the porch lights, but far enough away to be able to see around the corner of the house. You never quite know what colors you are really mixing and applying. 

24 (30 in 30 Challenge) "Strawberry Moon" grows up

This one I completed the week we returned from the beach. It was an enlargement of "Strawberry Moon" painted on location of the full moon on June 14th.

Strawberry Moon

16x20, oil

Day 14 and 15 (30 in 30) "A Proclamation" and "Strawberry Moon"

I woke up to watch the sunrise the day we were to drive back to Richmond. The clouds to the east were fairly dense, but the sky to the west was clearer and there was that big full moon -- June's Strawberry Moon.

Strawberry Moon

6x8, oil

This one was another sunrise, I didn't make it out to the beach until the sun had already risen. I named this one "A Proclamation" because Psalm 19:1 says:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

This sky took me around 1 hour to put down on canvas. And it was hard work. This same sky, changing every instant, God spoke into being. And every second it was a new formation and new declaration of His majesty. And a different one from every beach in the world, every day of the year. Can a craftsman make something more intricate or grander than himself? No. How glorious must this Maker be...

 

A Proclamation

6x8, oil