Psalm 1—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Drew Button

Drew Button grew up in Colorado drawing pictures of animals and became interested in pen and ink artwork in high school. His first ‘sketchbook’ contained all the quintessential imagery you’d associate with an ’emo’. Drawing became a way for that angsty teenage Drew to reconcile his faith and morals with the world around him. Family members and teachers encouraged Drew down a creative path early on that has led him to where he is today; operating an art business alongside his wife, Emily here in Denver. His life as a husband, father and artist is a dream come true for that hopeless romantic emo version of his teenage self, lost in the tide of young adulthood. His works today still pull from the same themes as before but now include inspiration received from his wife and son; including but not limited to people, animals, Christianity, machines, architecture, landscapes and dinosaurs.

Piece

I call this piece ‘OA515’ (oasis) in response to Psalm 1’s presentation of two life paths for a person to live and walk. One path leads towards rootlessness and death, while the other towards a rooted, abundant, fruitful life in Christ. While reading Psalm 1, a ‘split screen’ image formed in my mind initially, giving the viewer a clear choice to walk down one path versus the other. Upon more readings, I began imagine an oasis in the desert, that one could step into our out of. This vision brought me closer to what you see in the drawing: an overlap of both realities in which we choose to live as sinners and believers. While we strive towards a life committed the Word and aligned with our Father’s desire for us to drink and eat of him, we still wander out into the heat and desolation of the world beyond the lush garden. We follow and become fixed to a windswept track that takes us swiftly towards our own desires. Therein lies the struggle and the choice. With His hand on our shoulder, we may yet again decouple ourselves from that sinful train of thought or action and find ourselves back at the water’s edge.

PROCESS: Ink Pen

I experienced a great challenge in creating this piece. Prior to drawing ‘OA515’, my collection of pens had accumulated a year’s worth of dust. Breaking the rhythm of churning out work, and finding space to let myself draw for Christ in the Psalms is something I haven’t done enough since I began working for myself. Once I began imagining the oasis in my drawing, it only became easier for me to come back to the drawing in order to finish it. I drew inspiration from my son’s current obsession with ‘choochey trains’ and our enjoyment of God’s gift of time. He gives us rest and shade where the palm trees sway, where the flamingos flock, and even in the city, where the trains trundle on the trestles over the trail, down by the river.