Ill 660 Digital Painting: Project 3 Final

My final project is called, "Embrace".  I began this as a present to my wife 8 years ago as a traditional oil painting but I never finished it.  As our daughter grew the more difficulty I had finishing it as well and busy with work didn't help either.  Anyway, I was able to resurrect it for my MFA Digital Painting class.

The concept is simply a prayer that our daughter will one day not be enamored by the veneer of childhood fantasies and embrace the truth found in Jesus Christ.  This is also a commitment to my wife that I will lead our family in a loving relationship under our Sovereign Lord.  This is also based on Proverbs 22:6, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

So this depicts my daughter as an elf reaching out for Jesus as she turns her back on the magic and fantasies of youth that easily ensnares girls as they grow into womanhood.  I used my hand in the painting since Jesus needed working man's hands as a carpenter.