As a Sacred art painter, there is some pressure to get the perfect Christ, I do admit. We all wish to see Him as we imagine within our hearts. Humbly, I recognize my efforts will never be perfect so I have come to a place of creating deep from prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead. I notice that I have been lead to share Christ in a variety of ways. It seems to me that He says, I come to each of you, each of you belong. The most important aspect that I found that defines Christ is how He gazes. No matter the color of his hair, skin, eyes etc, He has this look of utter love and welcoming. This is the look that captures our hungry hearts. This is the look He shares with us, one in which He wishes we see no matter the artistic rendition before our eyes.

I recall, at the height of the pandemic, beginning this painting of Christ the King, titled, Yeshua and struggling a lot with it. I do use models as a reference, but no-one seems to look close enough to Our Lord so I must tweak things. In and out the painting would go and I recall getting really frustrated at my inability to create Him as I wished yet there was a key moment where I felt the Holy Spirit speak life into my work. In that moment, I experienced His gaze looking back at me as I fine tuned the details. “Hi Jesus,” I said, as I felt His warmth. Is it exactly the face of Christ, chance are no, but His gaze was given to me in grace. His look of love was transfused into the work before my very eyes. I pray I never stand in the way of these infusions of grace, but that I allow the Holy Spirit to be the main artist.

As we walk into Holy Week, may we pause to really allow the gaze of Christ, our Lover, pierce our hearts.