I Love You - Oil, sharpie pen, marker on canvas - 2026

The Bible illustrates four kinds of love, the greatest of which is charity. To use the will in accordance with charity is to provide a kind of light and nourishment to another human. Like a flower, a human, under the right conditions, can bloom and blossom. God's intention for human life is an abundance of goodness and God gives generously to all and as a follower of Jesus I want to be able to extend that generous light and attention to others so that when they do bloom they can be the truest expression of themselves that God intended them to be, which is always good.

Putting others before myself does not come naturally for me. I consider myself to be a selfish person and thinking and doing for others is hard, and I sometimes feel resentment about doing it. I feel like I have to be incentivized by God in order to even try to learn to love others the way He loves me. It's a practice, one which I choose to do because I do believe that there is only one true way for me to live, and that is through the example that Jesus set. My way is selfish and I find God is providing me with paths and opportunities to try out His way and I just need to be willing to try.

I started with an under painting of oil that shows through the subsequent layers because I wanted there to be a sense of uncertainty or ignorance about what I am doing in order to reflect my experience with trying to love others and also to be loved. I don’t feel like I am good with love and it is something that God very much has to continually and patiently teach me about over the course of the rest of my life. I wanted that self doubt and that inexperience to be a part of the way the material looks on the canvas.