I painted this before I had words for it.
At first, the work was simply about the ocean…its movement, its refusal to settle, the way the horizon steadies without controlling. I followed instinct rather than meaning, letting the waves arrive and rearrange themselves through paint.
Only afterward did Psalm 139 become a point of reflection. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
The verse reframed what I had already painted: motion without abandonment, distance without absence.
The visible brushwork and unresolved edges remain intentionally. Certainty felt unnecessary here. The sea does not stop to be guided; it moves and is held at the same time.
What began as observation became meditation. I did not set out to illustrate a scripture. I painted, and then allowed the painting to lead me into it.
