The Start of a New Journey

My Dear Friends and Family,

This is probably one of the most important letters I will write to you. I wish to invite you to join me on a new journey that I will be taking with my art career. This new direction has taken me many months of contemplation, planning and preparation, but I am now ready to begin and share this new series of art that I will be working on.

For the next two years I have decided to go in the direction of painting sacred art. I have come up with a series of 10-12 paintings that I feel will be deeply felt by many people. You are all very special to me, and I would like to share every step of this journey with you. The idea came to me over the summer when I was sincerely thinking about how I could create something that would be extremely powerful, meaningful, and arouse profound emotion in the viewer who looks at it. I believe that this series will do just that.

Most Christians believe that when we die we will meet Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, for the very first time. This event is a hallowed and tender moment, and one that would be brought with a variety of different emotions by different people. That is what I would like to paint - the unique reactions that can be felt when each of us come face to face with the Savior. I think some people would be overjoyed at meeting Him, some would fall on their knees and ask forgiveness for what they had done in their life. I have very clear image in my mind of a man who has his back turned from Him, and though Christ’s hands are stretched out to this man, the man is angry and cannot look at Jesus, as if to say ‘Where were you when I needed you?’ There is another in my mind of a little baby in the arms of the Savior, and this painting will symbolize those little ones who were stillborn, miscarried, or died as infants, and have returned back to the arms of safety, peace and love. The focus of each painting will not be on the Savior, but on the emotions and the worth of each individual I paint. You may see Christ's hands or His feet, but the focus will be on the one who had completed their life. The worth of a human soul is so precious in the sight of God, and that is something I wanted to express in this art series: how very special each and every soul is to Jesus Christ, who had died for each one of us.

 The last painting in this series, that is probably the most important, is a picture of Christ’s hands being held out to you, and the viewer will feel as if they are in His presence. This is where the viewer would stop and think the most important question: ‘How would I react when I meet Him, And will I be ready?’

This project is something very special and very personal to me. I feel now that it is one of the reasons why I am alive and why I have the gift that I do. I have never felt more passionate or driven about completing any other work. Every time I think about this project I feel a fire inside me that burns so bright, and I feel so excited that it’s impossible to let this alone. I need to make this series to give to the world, and send the message that the people we have known on this earth and have passed on are safe, they are loved, and as Christians we know where we are going, and we need not ever be afraid in this life or in the life to come. The next two years you will receive emails every so often from me about the process of each new painting, and I will take you down the path that I had gone in the making of every piece in this series. I want this new project will be able to touch as many people as possible, especially those who are mourning the loss of someone that they love dearly. This is something that needs to be shared, and hopefully it can lead others in the direction of peace and comfort, knowing that we are all children of an endlessly loving and eternal God.

One small note: Those of you who know me well are aware that I will be expecting my second child near the end of March. How can I possibly be able to accomplish such a large body of work with a second baby? I have asked myself and God that question as well. Why now? Why not when I was baby-less, or later on when my children are older and I have more time? I believe God has given me a pretty clear answer to that. He knows where my art has come and the portraits I've done to gain the experience needed to take on the project. He sees the responsibility I have, and challenges me to exercise the right amount of balance between my children, my home and my artwork. He has provided an inconvenient time (but not TOO inconvenient) for me to properly prepare before baby, and then practice patience and discipline after baby. He lastly wants me to exercise a little bit of faith in Him, that anything is possible with God....So I basically told him "You provide the way, and I will provide the work." We agreed, and so this project begins!

I cannot wait to begin this new journey with you. Perhaps through this we might all come a little closer to the one who made the greatest sacrifice for each and every one of us, and remember the people we so dearly love who are in His rest.

Love Always,
Laura