Temple Curtain

As I was painting this large 2'x4' canvas in 2009, the Holy Spirit told me to pause and take a photograph. The result is an artwork entitled, "Temple Curtain" taken from Exodus 26:1 where God is giving instructions for the Tabernacle.

“Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker." 
  

Biblical color meanings:

Linen (white): Holy, pure, God

Blue: Holy Spirit, Heaven

Purple: Royalty, majesty, kingship

Scarlet (red): blood, sacrifice, sin, redemption

Gold: God's glory, His presence

Temple Curtain - Christine Nichols, 2009

 

All my paintings begin with prayer. I ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance from beginning to end - from choosing the canvas and paint colors to the last brush stroke. I pray that the Lord's message would go forth through the art and that Father God would be glorified. 

I believe all prophetic art has a message, but what the Holy Spirit speaks to me about a specific piece of art, may be different than what the Spirit says to you. Seek Him for a personal interpretation.

You can find more Christian Abstract paintings that the Lord has given me on my Facebook page, Christine Nichols-Art, in a Photo Album called "FOR HIS GLORY"

Waves of Worship

Waves of Worship

I painted this on March 9, 2012 at First Love's Art Workshop. The anointing of the Holy Spirit was heavy when I was painting it, but I didn't understand the abstract until a couple of months later.  As I was studying it, the Holy Spirit gave revelation and all of a sudden it looked like an abstract of people kneeling in worship to the King of Kings, Jesus Christ! They are leaning forward with their heads bowed in holy reverence to Him. What once looked like multi-colored waves to me became "Waves of Worship."

I wondered about the muddy hues in the middle of the painting. It is the first and only time that happened while painting in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave the reason for the muddy hues. He said, "Don't look despairingly upon one another. You are one in Christ!" That's an illustrated message I will not soon forget! It reminds me of Romans 14:10-11. "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  

¹¹ For it is written:

“As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me, 

And every tongue shall confess to God." Isaiah 45:23

Even though there is great diversity in the crowd of believers, we are united as one under His Kingship. He is the Bridegroom and we (His followers, the church) are His Bride. 

Waves of Worship by Christine Nichols, 2012

16x20 Acrylic Painting

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage;
⁷ rather, He made Himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    He humbled Himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
    and gave Him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father!  Philippians 2:1-11

<<<<<^*^*^>>>>>

All my paintings begin with prayer. I ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance from beginning to end - from choosing the canvas and paint colors to the last brush stroke. I pray that the Lord's message would go forth through the art and that Father God would be glorified. I believe all prophetic art has a message, but what the Holy Spirit speaks to me about a specific piece of art, may be different than what the Spirit says to you. Seek Him for a personal interpretation.

>>>ART PRINTS NOW AVAILABLE!<<<

Find more Contemporary Christian Art 

on my website, Christine Nichols Fine Art.  

Look me up on Facebook and like the page 

if you have been blessed by the art. 

May the Lord be glorified and may the art speak to your heart!

Thanks for reading this blog. 

Feel welcome to comment below.

Blessings,

Christine

Work in Progress

Refining Heart: Work in Progress

"Work in Progress" Christine Nichols, 2012

This art project turned out to be a week-long lesson about my heart and motives. To begin, the chosen canvas is significant because it was a commissioned painting that I couldn't complete. I was soooooo stuck for nearly a year as the unfinished painting mocked me with failure and guilt. The 2’x 4' canvas had a multi-colored background and a contemporary design of a person praising God with arms raised. It sort of looked like two parenthesizes inverted: ) (  My oldest son said it looked like the stitching on a baseball to him. 
The new painting began with a charcoal briquette symbolizing a lump of coal. I drew a large heart in the center of the praise design, then scribbled and scratched markings within the heart. This represented sin. While doing this, jealousy was revealed. Emerald green flashed in my mind, with the cliché phrase "green-eyed monster", but I was surprised that the Holy Spirit chose a drab, dull green to cover the drawn heart. The world sees jealousy as a strong emotion, full of passion like a sparkling emerald. Our society even describes it as a crime of passion when a jealous rage turns deadly, but the Lord viewed the motive of jealousy within my heart as drab and lifeless. Green is usually associated with newness and life in Scripture but in this instance, it had the opposite meaning.
The drab green heart was expanded by rings of blue, purple, fuchsia, and white. The Holy Spirit gave a cross-section view of my heart like the growth rings of a tree. The outer layers of my heart resonates hues of Christ, His Kingship, and holiness. In an online Christian art class that I took, the instruction taught us to cover the negative with beauty. The Holy Spirit lead me to cover the green heart of jealousy to a heart of gold with a smaller lavender heart within. The small heart looked like it was ready to take flight like a butterfly!

Next came a multitude of circles painted with crumpled-up plastic wrap dabbed in paint. The motion was a swift turn of my wrist like the movement of turning a key in a lock. After multiple layers of hues were applied to the circles they reminded me of blue roses with golden highlights. The Lord then spoke within my heart about a law of His creation: (A plant) "blooms before it sets fruit."  As I continued with the painting this week, He reaffirmed the word given by saying, "Go forward. Fruit forthcoming." 
To be honest, I was dissatisfied with the large heart in the center. It seemed out of proportion and looked like a kindergartener had painted it, so I added more "circle roses" to the outer heart rings to make them fade into the background and highlight the smaller heart of gold. But that didn't seem right either, so I added more roses across the gold heart and it nearly disappeared! I knew I had messed up big time by taking things into my own hands. I hadn't waited on the Lord for the Holy Spirit's guidance to continue painting. I was more concerned about the outward appearance of the painting and good reviews (acceptance) from family and friends rather than God's message within the painting. My eyes were solely on myself instead of Christ. I repented, asked for forgiveness, and sought the Lord's redemption, literally. I asked Him specifically to fix the painting and without hesitation, He gave the solution along with a test of faith. I was to mix fuchsia with hues of gold and apply it over the heart, covering the roses. The color mixture turned coppery-bronze. Then the Lord said to use a toothbrush to scrub the gold mixture into the heart. I obeyed and the heart looked an absolute mess! It was a vivid demonstration of what happens to my heart when I seek glory for myself instead of seeking to glorify God.

Next came the leap of faith. The Lord said to take the plastic bag covering the paint palette, turn it inside out and place it over the heart. The plastic bag had some wet silver paint on it.  I admit, I wondered if I had heard right or not, because it sounded so unconventional to me, but I obeyed and the result was a heart of mixed metals: Copper, bronze, silver and gold. It was then that the Lord said, "Refining heart. Work in progress." 

 

"Refining Heart: Work in Progress" Christine Nichols, 2012

 Original 2' x 4' acrylic painting. June 2012

The Lord said during the painting process:

"Blooms before setting fruit. Go forward. Fruit forthcoming. Refining heart. Work in progress."

 

By the way, the commissioned piece I mentioned in the beginning of this blog was finished after this painting. It turned out to be a set of three canvases with a message of being "Sent with His Scent" for a friend as she about to embark on a new life in the missionary field. What's cool is that the art was small enough to pack and take with her to Haiti. God knows exactly what we need when we need it! There is none like Him!! 

*******

All my paintings begin with prayer. I ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance from beginning to end (from choosing the canvas and paint colors to the last brush stroke), that the Lord's message would go forth through the art, and that Father God would be glorified. I believe all prophetic art has a message, but what the Holy Spirit speaks to me about a specific piece of art, may be different than what the Spirit says to you. Seek Him for a personal interpretation.

>>>ART PRINTS NOW AVAILABLE!<<<

Find more Contemporary Christian Art 

on my website, Christine Nichols Fine Art.  

Look me up on Facebook and like the page 

if you have been blessed by the art. 

May the Lord be glorified and may the art speak to your heart!

Thanks for reading this blog. 

Feel welcome to comment below.

Blessings,

Christine

Ultimate Sacrifice

The Ultimate Sacrifice 

The Ultimate Sacrifice is a series of two images taken from one painting entitled, Believe.  

Believe - Christine Nichols, 2009

12x12 Canvas, Acrylic

I began painting the 12x12 canvas in a church I was attending in 2009. The Holy Spirit choose the hues of sky blue with wisps of white and and dabs of red and directed the movement of the paintbrush as such. At one point, I was told by the Spirit to paint the number seven (7) on the canvas. The pastor of the church walked by and saw the seven in the middle of canvas. We talked about how seven represents perfection in the Bible. A short time later, the Holy Spirit told me to place a paper towel layer over the wet canvas. I obeyed and lightly patted the paper towels like a mother gently comforting her infant child. Carefully lifting up the paper towel, I laid it down to dry and stared at the image that had been lifted up from the canvas. 

Ultimate Sacrifice Series - Christine Nichols, 2009

The pastor walked by again and I asked him what he saw. He said, "Christ being taken down off the cross." I needed the confirmation because I had NOT painted an image of Christ or a cross. Just the number seven. I knew that a miracle had taken place. I was a bit shaken, but the Lord wasn't done yet. He compelled me to continue painting. Again, I obeyed and began painting as the Spirit lead, adding layers of paint and movement. Eventually, the movement turned into swirls of paint like a red ribbon weaving across and down the canvas. For the second time, the Lord told me to place a layer of paper towels over the wet canvas. I wondered what would happen this time as I followed His instructions. 

Ultimate Sacrifice Series - Christine Nichols, 2009

Lifting up the paper towel, I saw three separate images - again, none that I had painted. The top image represents the Lord's body as if it was tightly wrapped and laying on a slab in a tomb. If you look closely, you will even see the imprint of eyes, nose and a mouth. The middle image is Christ sitting up in the tomb. The third is a pile of His burial cloths and He is gone! The resurrection of Jesus Christ!! 

I would never presume to paint such a scene of Christ being taken down from the cross or of His blessed resurrection. I consider both "lifted up" images to be miracles. There is no other explanation. 

Succession of images taken from the painting, Believe. It wasn't until I bought the images and canvas home that the Lord instructed me to paint the word, "Believe"in gold on the canvas and gave me the Scripture verse, Romans 10:9. "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."