Awake, O Heart
- Mar 6
- 1 min read
Awake, O Heart
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
—Isaiah 60:1
This piece is a call to the heart to rise and remember the light has already come.
It was painted with the tension of dawn in mind, that sacred in-between when darkness still lingers but light has already begun its rise. Isaiah first spoke these words to a people emerging from exile, weary and uncertain. The command to “arise” came only after the promise: your light has come.
Awake, O heart is a response to that promise. It invites the viewer to step out of hiding, out of heaviness, and into the radiance of God’s presence. Our role is simply to turn toward it.
Note from the artist:
“This painting was inspired by the unspoken language of the heart — the quiet, complex ways emotion moves through us without needing words.
Layered acrylic marks build a visual dialogue between soft curves and sharper angles, calm passages and energetic movement. Muted, atmospheric tones create a grounded stillness, while moments of vibrant, poppy red surface like emotional sparks — sudden, alive, impossible to ignore.
I’m drawn to these juxtapositions — tenderness alongside tension, restraint beside release. They mirror the way feelings rarely exist in isolation, but instead overlap, collide, and soften one another over time.
My hope is that viewers experience a sense of familiarity within the piece — recognizing their own emotional landscape reflected back at them, and finding permission to hold the full range of
what they feel.”
