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

Myra Ferguson

About the Artist • About the Piece

Myra Ferguson is a digital media educator, author, and freelance designer/developer. She teaches at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

After writing How to Cheat in Adobe Animate CC, Myra authored video courses, wrote Linkedln Skill Assessments and the Adobe Certified Instructor Exam for Design and Layout, and worked with the Adobe Learn team to improve content discoverability. Myra also creates video tutorials and writes articles for CreativePro to help Adobe users learn a variety of Creative Cloud applications.

Psalm 18:10b-18:11 describes God responding to David’s distress call as “he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.” The preceding verses paint a picture of God’s wrath towards David’s enemies, so I envisioned angry skies and wondered how a wing might be a part of that.

I started with an Adobe Stock image that showed a fierce storm forming over water. The shape of the shelf cloud resembled a wing, so looked for another stock image with a bird that had a similar wing shape.

I found an image of a golden eagle. Using an image of a wing from a golden eagle seemed appropriate, as it’s one of the largest birds of prey in North America. Birds of prey generally symbolize power and precision and are often associated with the idea of being a divine messenger.

I combined the two images in Photoshop, rotating the wing to match the orientation of the cloud. I used adjustment layers to desaturate the wing and lighten it. I applied a layer mask to blend the feathers into the clouds. And I applied the Screen blend mode to lighten the wing shape over the clouds. Lastly, I flipped the entire image horizontally to make what would be the “front” face the right to set the direction of the motion as if we were reading it from left to right.

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

Tamara Carey

About the Artist • About the Piece

The older I get, the more stunned I am by the completely undeserved gift of God calling me His child. That’s who I am… as my best friend’s bride, our three children’s mama and teacher, and friends’ and neighbors’ eager listener. I seek to behold His glory daily, so that He might transform me from one degree of glory to another. I am kept, as this Psalmist prays, by Him.

I tell my children, “There is only one perfect Artist… we simply get to copy what He has already made.” What a privilege it is to read His Word, observe His world, and then create! In Psalm 17, the writer’s plea is for God to listen to his cries, to protect him, and to act on his behalf to deliver him from his enemies. What stood out to me was verse 8, in the middle of His yearning for God’s protection: Keep me as the apple of Your eye… The Hebrew word for the phrase “as the apple” is pronounced ‘îšôn, which means pupil – the darkest, most vulnerable and protected part of the eye. I used oil pastels on the back of the transparent window to capture a rough sketch of the whole eye. The pupil, however, is the main part of this piece. It lies behind the glass – protected. I used a deep blue, for the pupil is like a window into waters of the soul that flow deep within. I hope this encourages us to pray, knowing that God knows and protects us more than we could ever fathom.

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

Whitney Grimm

About the Artist • About the Piece

It’s a privilege, yet again, to be able to create an art piece for CITP, Psalm 16. Because art is subjective, my desire in all the art I create is to tell a story by evoking emotions and feelings, or causing one to stop and think; to ask themselves what they get from it, if anything. Jesus spoke in parables or metaphors, similar to what I could be saying through this piece.

For this piece specifically, each item represents something that I felt was significant in expressing what the themes of this Psalm are. My style is clean, minimal and often simple. David knows God is his/our cup of life (v5). He also says God will show him/us the path of life which leads to God (v11). While here on earth we’re meant to grow in Him, rooting ourselves in Him and His Holy Word.

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

Kate Turner

About the Artist • About the Piece

Kate Turner is a brand designer and illustrator at STONE Strategy and Design in Golden, Colorado. Beyond her creative work, she finds joy in snowboarding, history podcasts, figure skating, and serving on Sundays as “Miss Kate” with Park Kids.

When I first read Psalm 15, I kept returning to David’s question: “Lord, who can dwell in your tent? Who can live on your holy mountain?” This question became the foundation for this piece. In both Scripture and my artwork, the tent and mountain symbolize the meeting place of heaven and earth, where God opens His sacred presence through Jesus Christ. Scripture often depicts mountains as places where people encounter God. Even Eden was a garden oasis atop a mountain, where God and man lived together. As the story unfolds, humanity is separated from its home, and Psalm 15 poses a sobering question: Is there anyone who can truly dwell on God’s holy mountain again? Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, and others ascend mountains to meet God, but none can remain there. The greatest leaders, prophets, kings, and intercessors fall short. Their lives foreshadow the one who would truly fulfill the righteous life described in this Psalm: Jesus. He endured temptation on a mountain, remained faithful through every test, and ultimately gave up his life. Just as the morning dawned on the third day, the beams of light over the mountains represent the hope that humanity will dwell with God again. Similarly, the tent at the center of my piece reminds us that God desires intimacy, not grand architecture. In 2 Samuel 7, He tells David of His willingness to dwell in a humble tent that traveled with His wandering people rather than in a permanent palace. The tent’s front pole is meant to be a carved branch from the tree on the hill, symbolizing Jesus opening access to the “Holy of Holies” through His death on the cross. From this Tree of Life flows a bubbling stream, echoing themes from Genesis and Revelation. As the water pours over the cliff, it becomes a symbol of God’s mercies and life flowing from mountain heights into our world.

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

Kimberly Kelly

About the Artist • About the Piece

My name is Kim. My husband, Peter, and I have been at Park for 11 years. I’m a mom to the two coolest people I know, a therapist, and an amateur art maker. Art allows me to let go of perfectionism and enjoy the process.

My kids’ Bible (CSB) has this psalm titled “portrait of a sinner.” As I was meditating on this passage, I couldn’t get the idea of this as a self-portrait of sorts out of my head. I think it’s too easy to read this psalm and want to minimize its truth. I’m no fool! I’m not like the person described here…except too often I am. This psalm has encouraged me to confront the foolishness in my life and heart—the ways I proclaim “of course there’s a God” with my words but don’t live like I believe that to be true. With that idea in mind, I intentionally played with proportions to highlight the foolishness and absurdity of where our lives are often oriented when the glory of God is so tangibly on display around us. My hope is that this Psalm would encourage us to examine our own foolishness and return to the God of grace who promises to be our refuge.