Happy Easter Everyone!

I'm celebrating Easter with two newly crafted works of art, "Easter" and "Son of Man".  I felt compelled to create an interesting portrait of Jesus Christ.  Every time I paint Jesus, I paint him with different features.  Maybe one will have a long beard, one might have a longer nose, one might have thin lips or one will have a different hair style.  Anyway you look at it my paintings of christ are all ways unique from each other.

The Portrait

This Easter I wanted to create a portrait with a piercing gaze, a direct look, right into your soul.  I originally intended this to be a happier portrait, but it turned out differently.  This portrait features  intense eyes with a slightly smug look.  A look like he knows what is going on but finds humor in our lack of understanding.  I really didn't intend this, but while painting, it really came out like that.  It was as if another hand, much smarter than my own was guiding me.  

Jesus

As I wrote earlier, I keep changing the way my Jesus looks.  In this portrait, I've created one of my most interesting versions with striking features.  Essentially, Jesus is Middle Eastern, having Jewish parents.  I wanted to give the portrait of a man being from that area, not the idealized Eastern European versions of Christ we have seen since the middle ages.

The Eyes

I had a lot of debate if I should make his eyes brown or blue.  Most people from that region of the world have dark brown eyes, but I guess I went the traditional route and gave him bluish green eyes.  The main reason for this is to have something to focus on.  To have the feeling like the portrait is really watching you. 

A Tale of Two Portraits

Christ is the cornerstone for the Christian religion so you want to make a really good portrait.  As a believer I find it extremely hard to paint Jesus, it is the kind of thing that you just don't want to mess up.  I took an extraordinary amount of time creating the face, eyes, nose, mouth and beard.  The original painting is "Easter", the full version of the portrait.  I noticed that I had packed so many details into the portrait, that there was really a second portrait in the painting, the painting I call "Son of Man".  I took the face, changed a few things and just blew it up so it covered the entire paper.  Here was Jesus, right in your face, ready to ask you. "Do you believe?"